Lily Hates James Hates Lily
by TigressLily
Summary: What the title says. James is a jerk, Lily is a prick...but maybe they might be able to save eachother. just maybe. please please please r/r!
1. Part I

****

It's a l/j thing. And they've got issues (w/ eachother). Please r/r, i don't care if u flame. 

"I can show you some moves, if you want. I know, I know, you know you'll never be as good as me, but that's no reason to put youself down. I'm far and beyond the average quidditch player, don't trouble yourself by comparing your skills to mine." 

Lily lifted an eyebrow at her housemate, trying -hard- to hide her malice and contempt. "Roy, I really don't think that's nessecary." 

"Of course it is! I would never wish to deprive a younger, inferior student of my all knowing wisdom!" Gildroy exclaimed, looking severly taken aback. 

"It's really okay," Lily sighed, because it really wasn't, and being attacked (literally) by this egotistacal fifth year was not helping her out. "I'm not worried ... well, I am...-" but Gildroy didn't hear her; he was to busy babbling about how to style your hair for a quidditch match. 

"Hey Evans!" Lily turned, slowly, to find James Potter towering over her. 

"You called?" She asked, sarcasm creeping into her voice. 

"Rumor has it," he told her, smiling widely. "That Miss-I've-got-the-best-grades-of-the-whole-entire-fourth-years has taken to trying out for the Quidditch team." 

"Rumor also has it," Lily retorted, unable to contain herself, "that a certain chaser for the gryffindor team is worried that he might lose his spot- to a girl who never played quidditch until four years ago. 

"You said it," James smiled smotheringly and condesendingly, in a way that made Lily think Gildroy's smiles were prefferable. "A girl...one's who never played quidditch before...and above all, a GIRL! Wait, remind me, I'm supposed to be... worried? Was that the word? For someone with such a big vocabualary, I don't think you know the proper use of that word." 

Lily opened her mouth, but James's best friend, Sirius Black, cut in, which was fortunate, because she couldn't think of anything to say. "Prongs old buddy, I think she has a point." Sirius's eyes glinted. "I mean, to beat the Slytherins, the Hufflepuffs, the Ravenclaws, all the seventh years... and lose it all to Lily Evans." Sirius shook his head slowly, and patted James on the back in mocl sympathy. "Sucks for you, my friend." 

Lily had recovered her tongue by now. "Don't worry, Sirius, I think he's used to it." She gave a long, dramatic sigh. "After all, he's second in Potions... to me, second in Transfiguration... to me, second in Defense against Dark Arts... yet again, to me. Come on, James, even you should be able to detect a pattern." 

"Why are you so cold, Lily?" James asked her, with just a tinge of seriousness that was soon replaced. "Honestly, you talk and it's like a winter storm coming out of you're breath." 

Lily didn't condesend to answer. Actually, she couldn't think of a reply. So she turned around, and left. 

"You know," Gildroy swung himself around in front of James, blocking his gaze as he watched Lily clamber up the stairs, "What she said isn't entirely correct. I mean, by all technicality, yes, you are number two. But, well, I just can't bring myself to defeat those so clearly inferior to myself." 

"Gildroy, buddy." Sirius draped his arm around Gildroy. "Have you done that History essay yet? I was thinking you could do mine..." 

Lily wasn't happy. Not by any stretch of the imagination. 

"You don't like him, do you?" Karana asked, slightly unwisely. 

Lily glared at her. "No, I don't." 

"I guessed," Karana said, displaying the extent of her wisdom. 

Lily sauntured down the the Quidditch field. 

It was true, she'd never even heard of Quidditch until she came to Hogwarts. But she'd fallen in love with the sport from the word 'up' , and the opinion had never changed. She had so much pent up frustration from acting perfect all day, it was a relief to finally let her anger out in a series of loops, dives, and spins. 

"I must admit," she heard as she skidded to the ground. "I would never have thought it possible. Did you learn it out of a book?" 

"You wonder I don't warm right up to you?" Lily asked, meet James eye for eye. 

"Maybe if the two of you got a bit closer..." Sirius suggested, a grin creeping onto his face. 

"I'd sooner kiss Gildroy, the conceited idiot," Lily told them. 

"Intresting concept." James looked as though he'd been waiting for her to say those exact words. "I prupose a bet. That is, as long as gambling doesn't go against you're moralistic values." 

"You know, James," Lily told him, her face the very image of calmness. "I don't think you're really such a jerk. You're just a coward who hides behind this macho guy facade." 

"And you're a girl who like to pretend she's perfect when -gasp- wouldn't you know it, she's human," James retorted. Sirius watched with intrest. "Are we making a bet or not?" 

"On what?" Lily scowled; she really didn't want to do this. 

"Quidditch tryouts." James smiled. "You know, those things that are starting in five minutes." 

"I'll set the stakes then." Lily smiled; it was James's turn to frown. "I make the team, you get up in assembly and make an announcement on how girls are better than guys in everything they do. I don't make the team... 

"You get to kiss your beloved Gildroy... or me, if you prefer." James smiled. 

"I think I'll go with Gildroy." Lily didn't smile. 

"It's a deal, then," James held out his wand, quite professionally and with just a tiny bit of seriousness. Lily touched it with her own. 

"You know," Sirius said, as he and James left to get changed. "You have an odd way of showing you like someone." 

"Well how else... I don't like her," James stumbled. 

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Yeah. Uh-huh. Sure, Prongs." 

So, kinda short, I know, but r/r if you like it, so I can write the next one.


	2. Part II

Because of everyone's reviews, i decided to write the second part quickly (with better font, i hope) so please r/r 

Proffessor Wood sat on his broom, smiling at the assembled students. Well, he smiled at some of them, and frowned at others. James was among the 'some,' Lily was among the others. 

"For five years now," he began, boring down on the students with such intensity it was almost a physical blow, "We have lost the Quidditch cup TO THE SYLTHERINS! The Syltherins! And this year, we are going to beat them if it costs me, erm, us, every single last player! SO I expect hard work, concentration, and above all, TOTAL DEDICATION! Quidditch will come before your friends, your family, you're school. And if you don't think you can do this," his glaze slid slowly over to Lily, "then I suggest you leave." He glared so fanatically that many student were tempted to pick up their brooms, many of which were newly bought, and leave. But they stood their ground. 

"Potter here," the Proffessor said, with a rare smile and a kind of fierce pride, "is one of the best chaser's I've ever had the privilege to coach. Unfortunatly, with the exclusion of Black, over there," his voice edged into a growl, recalling Sirius's 'misdirected' bludger that had clonked him in the head last year, "all of his peers have graduated. Which leaves room for two Chasers, a bludger, a keeper, and a seeker. Now-" 

"Proffessor," Gildroy cut in, oblivous to the proffessor's now red face. "I believe that there is only room for four other players; you see, I myself am a excellent seeker, so there is really no need for tryouts." There were several murmurs about this, some of which mistakenly took Gildroy seriously. 

Wood was fuming. 

"I... believe... in giving a fair chance to everyone," he finished in a rush, afraid that had he kept his mouth open for a second longer, bludgers would have come flying out. "Therefore, Mr. Gildroy, tryouts will be held for everyone, and we shall begin with sprints." 

"Sprints?" Lily muttered, looking confused. To a muggle born girl, this meant running. 

"On brooms," Sirius told her, leaning over. "You know, flat out speed with quick turns. Without falling off." He smiled, recalling his first tryout. James glared at him. 

"Traitor!" he whispered, so that Wood couldn't hear. 

"Are you trying to win based on skill, or superior knowledge?" Sirius retorted, his smile growing larger. James scowled; even he couldn't get out of this one. 

"Ready..." Wood gave them very little warning, and many people were not ready. "GO!" 

There were twenty or so students trying out, but you wouldn't have known it. Lily and James, sped, neck for neck, twisting and turning around elabrorate obstacles Wood must have spent weeks preparing. James looked over at Lily in suprise; she was bent low over her broom, her face filled with fierce determination, red hair whipping out behind her. James was genuinely astounded. It had been quite awhile since he'd been challenged in speed or control; he wasn't going all out but he was at least sincerely challenged. Slowly, Lily drew a breath ahead of him. 

"I must admit, you're very good," James told her, as they swung in unison around a tree. "Faster than I am." 

"But you're smiling," Lily said, through gritted teeth as the wind confronted her. 

"Because I know something you don't know," James smiled. 

"And what ... would that be," Lily paused as she ducked under a branch. 

"I'm not going at full speed." James lowered himself a bit more, and drew half a brooms lenght ahead of Lily as he pulled out of a dive. 

Lily smiled, not impressed. "You are better than I am, aren't you?" It was not the consent of defeat. 

"But you're smiling," James commented, not worried in the slightest. They were approaching the most difficult obstacle Wood had dreamed up; a one-eighty turn around a thin pole followed immediatly followed by a twist under a log and a loop through a large ring that usually served as one of the goals. 

"Because I know something you don't know," Lily tensed, preparing for the turn. 

"And what would that be?" James wasn't really paying attenting; he shifted his wait towards the outside. 

"I'm not going full speed either." Lily frowned in concentration, and, with a burst of acceleration, pulled all the way ahead of James, and twisted through the series of turns flawlessly. James had little time for disbelief, he pushed himself yet lower so that his chin was now touching the broom handle, and attempted to catch up with her in the long, straight stretch that now lay between them and where Wood was standing at the 'finish line.' 

This was what Sirius had been talking about when he said flat about speed. Though not as physically straining on the player as most muggle sports, it was the power and will of the mind that propelled Lily and James to keep accelerating beyond the speed of their own best. When they crossed the finish line seconds later, it would have taken long examined photographs to determine which finished second. 

Wood stood there on the ground, astonishment, admiration, and total disbelief mixed into one distorted expression. 

"Inconceivable," he muttered, under his breath. He didn't even see Sirius come zooming across the finish line, many seconds later, leading the pack of the remaining students. 

"You know, you're almost as good as a guy," James told Lily was they skidded to a stop. His tone was thoughtful, but there were underlying prejudices that made Lily seethe. 

"Yeah, and better than that whole group of testosteroneis back there," she said, glaring at him as she pulled back her hair. A strand fell loose, and James had an unexplainable urge to reach across the distance between them to brush it back. But instead he said, 

"So you beat them," he said, knowing what he was about to say was going to cut deep but being unable to resist. "Unless I'm wrong, you're a lot lighter than the rest of them due to disorders I shall not name." 

Lily's face grew livid in utter shock and anger. But instead she said calmly, "Don't think you can hurt me, James. I have to actually care first, and you're not exactly first on my list." She swallowed, visiblely, then continued sweetly, "Besides, the coach that -formerly- worshipped the ground you walked on seems to disagree." 

"Evans!" Wood's face looked like it was going to split open from joy. "That was incredible!" He waved around his wizard clock frantically. "I've never seen anyone go that fast! Not even Potter! Which reminds me," he said, turning to James, "I've never seen you go that fast before, Potter. Which means that you've either improved drastically over the off-season, or else you weren't giving your ABSOLUTE ALL!" Wood made it seem like a crime bad enough to send someone to Azkazban. James looked utterly shocked beyond belief. Lily smiled sweetly. 

Wood now seemed to realized that there were other Quidditch players there, as well (it was no great feat; they were plummeting to the ground around him). "That was excellent!" But it was addressed mostly to Lily. "A very good first day, we shall continue tommorrow with scrimages." The players began to gether up there brooms and head back to the castle under the settin sun, leaving a distinct odor a sweat behind them. Lily was one of the last to leave, and, with shadows beginning to creep across the field, jumped when a hand brushed (or slammed) her shoulder. 

"You do realized what this means, don't you?" James voice came from behind her. 

"What, I'm just as good as you?" Lily slung her cloak across her shoulders and began heading back to the castle. James darted in front of her. 

"No," he told her, a determined glint in his eye. "All out. Nothing held back." There was a ferocity in his voice, not unlike Wood's, that made Lily shiver. "Aww, you must be cold." Sarcasm dripped from his voice. "Don't worry, I'll let you get back to you're homework." He stepped aside, but Lily didn't move past. 

"You know what bother's you most about me?" Lily asked him, not waiting for an answer. "Not that I'm a girl, not that I'm playing Quidditch, not even that I'm better than you in all our classes." James opened his mouth to protest, about to say that was exactly what he didn't like. But she hit with something too close to the truth for his liking. "You can't predict me. I don't let anything about myself escape to you, so everytime you think you've got my figured out, I do something different. And you don't like that." The last phrase punched him like a physical blow. Having said this, and recieved the saticfaction of speechlessness (a rare occurance with James Potter), she continued up to the castle. 

And James was still speechless. 

"You realize she's right, don't you?" James jumpes; he'd forgotton Sirius was there. Moreover, Sirius sounded actually serious, which was quite unlike him. "I haven't been you're best friend for four years without picking up a few things." He chuckled, and returned to his usual self. "She's almost got you figured out. Except for one small detail." 

"And what's that?" James was still too shocked to give a reply other than the blantly obvious; he did manage to add a little growl in his voice, though. But Sirius just smiled. 

"Prongs, I am going to have so much fun with this," he told his friend, smiling mischieviously in the darkness. "I never thought I would see this day." And he laughed, neither maliciously nor sarcastically, but out of pure, well founded amusement at the whole situation. "Never thought this day would come." 

I tried to make it longer that time, if you've ever seen the princess bride; lets just say I got a bit carried away with that middle scene, and it seemed to fit. Anyhow, r/r please, thank you so much for reviewing the other one, and tell me if u like this font better. I really didn't mean for the last one to be so big!


	3. Part III

Lily hates James hates Lily 

Lily entered the common room to find it mostly deserted, excepting Karana Halone, one of her classmates. Karana was bent studiously over the History essay Proffessor Binns had assigned, making Lily smile. Karana wasn't half as dumb as she pretended to be; but sh would die if she thought anyone knew. 

"Hey," Lily said, plopping herself down next to Karana. "How far'd you get on the history?" 

Karana jumped, looked over at Lily, and hastily folded her essay over. "Not very far," she said, although the thick role she held in her hand argued otherwise. "How were the tryouts?" 

Lily smiled, displaying a full set of white teeth. "Very nice, actually. Professor Wood was stumbling over himself when he saw how fast I could go." She chuckled, remebering Wood, but stopped herself as she recalled James. There was something very disturbing about the way he'd been acting, and she couldn't quite lay a finger on it. 

"Well, I probably should get to bed." Karana's eyes twinkled. "Need to get my beauty sleep, you know." She skipped up the stairs, leaving Lily alone with the dimming firelight and her own uncomferting thoughts. Determined to think about something else, she turned instead to the open book on Egyptian mummies Karana had left open. Regretfully, she began her own essay. 

James was just as focused as he walked through the hallways; but his thoughts were taking a slighlty different turn. 

"...the nerve! She is the most annoying, repulsive,... There aren't words to explain it!" James told his friend, frustrated. 

"Of course there aren't words to explain it." Sirius grinned at the double meaning of his own words. "But you've found plenty of words tof ill the space between the Quidditch field and the common room." 

James slouched in front of the portriat hole, currently empty as the fat lady had gone to visit one of her friends. "Sirius, today... she almost beat me. And I was going ALL out. Nothing held back." 

Sirius looked at his friend pitingly, but his words were stone cold and unwontingly serious. "So now you know what it's like to actually have to work, don't you?" James looked up, suprised, but Sirius wasn't finished. He chuckled without humor. "It's actually kind of ironic. If you put in half as much effort as she does into classes, you'd be ahead of her by far. But you don't give it your 'all' in that, and you don't give your all in Quidditch. Until today, that is. When you were challenged." 

James couldn't bring himself to look Sirius in the eye, but something drew him to it, anyhow. There was anger, and scorn, and... pity? James wasn't sure. 

But he didn't have to figure out. "C'mon, dearies, what's the password?" The fat lady scooted pack into her portriat. 

"Hobberwiggles," James muttered, standing up as the portriat door swung open. He would have walked through, but Sirius grabbed his arm in sudden intensity. 

"Think about it," he whispered. Then, all of a sudden, he was himself again. "But thinking isn't exactly up your alley, is it? Oh, well,... 

Lily twirled the eggs idly around her fork, not paying them the slightest attention. She was too tired to think; she'd been working on the History essay until well past midnight. 

_ It's what you wanted _, she chided herself, sparing energy to berate herself. _ Focus on school work so you don't have to bother with anything else._ She looked up, and found her gaze rest immediatly on James Potter. _ Like him, for instance. _

She'd never let him know how close he'd hit her when he mentioned eating disorders and homework. Lily was slowly realizing how other people must percieve her; a workaholic. Work was her refuge, her cover. And when someone pointed that out... 

... especially James Potter ... 

_I have to care first _, she quoted herself bitterly. _I care. But no one is ever supposed to know that. _

Finding her thoughts to be rude company, Lily went back to localizing her energy in breakfast. 

James was in a slightly better mood. 

After he got over the initial shock of Sirius's speech, he'd concluded that all he had to do was try harder. If he had been that good at Quidditch without effort, just think of how could he could be! 

True, Sirius had brought up the sore spot of classes. But classes just weren't important to James; besides, would he rather people think of him as someone so utterly cold and unfeeling? 

But just as he'd neatly catagorized her, he glanced her way, and noticed the redness around her eyes, both from lack of sleep and crying. 

Crying? Lily didn't cry... It was then that James realized he might just have hurt her. 

'_I'd have to care first _. He vividly remembered her words. It had seemed like a curse; she'd never care, so she'd never get hurt. But maybe she did care what other people thought of her, she just pretended she didn't. _ We not entirely unalike,_ James realized with a shock. But just as he was about to continue with that thought... 

"Prongs, you look like you're THINKING!" Sirius exclaimed, secretly pleased, but not showing it in the least. "Dangerous habit, really." 

"I could of sworn you told me to do something of the sort last night," James said, smiling, mentally telling himself to forget Lily. "Oh wait... then you told me I wasn't very good at it." He lifted an eyebrow at Sirius. 

"I think, therefore I am," was Sirius's only reply. This puzzled James, but he decided not to dwell on it. 

"Time for Transfiguration," he said, standing up. "Let's get there early; it's too cold a morning to get stuck sitting next to an icicle." With one last glance at Lily, he headed out of the Breakfast Hall. 

As though fate had been peeved at James's boldness, Proffessor Mcgonnall had decided they should work in pairs today; and that Lily was to be James's partner. 

"I'm not happy either," she told him, dumping her stuff on top of his. "You don't have to look so thrilled." Sarcasm was in her voice, as always, but she seemed to be bordering on hysterics, and James couldn't quite bring himself to make a nasty retort. That didn't mean he was going to be nice. 

"So you can scowl and frown ad carry on about having me as a partner," he said, taking a firmer hold on the frog, "but I'm not allowed to do the same?" 

"You're welcome to, being a partner with youself must really suck," Lily said shortly, flipping through the book to find the particular spell. 

"Do you expect people to be nice to you?" James asked, feigning intrest but with underlying tones of sarcasm. 

"Never expected anything of the sort from you," Lily told him shortly. 

"And I supposed that's why you're so upset?" James tried to sound disintrested as he flicked the dust off his wand, but couldn't quite manage it. "Because some one you assume is the nastiest being on earth happened to return the favor?" 

"SNOUTUS!" Lily shouted, giving the frog a nice long snout. Turning to James, she replied, "I was tired. That Histoy essay took me forever." 

"Lovely excuse." James gave the frog a tail. 

"Egotistacal jerk." Lily covered the frog in fur. "Why do you assume everything revolves around you?" 

"But doesn't it?" James pushed his hair back a bit, preparing to make the fina transformation of frog to ferret. But Lily beat him to it. 

"Frogulus Ferrutus!" She swished her wand over the creature with a tab bit more style than was really needed, but netherless produced an adorable lookng ferret. Which immediatly proceeded to bite James finger. 

"Even the ferret seems to think it worth while to hate me." But James didn't smile. 

So, I know it's not as good as the others, but i felt like i should at least go into the personal thoughts a tiny bit. Please r/r. O, and whoever it was that caught the one thin lily couldn't figure out about james; ty, it made my day. Anyhow, yeah, r/r, so u can tell me the billions of ways this sucks, so i can fix it, but i swear the rest won't be this bad.


	4. Part IV

  
  
I'm in kind of a weird mood right now, because I'm listening to music and my mood changes with the song (i've got arms of an angle and inside out on the same list, don't ask), so if this seems kind weird, oh well. Anyhow, again, thank you for reviewing, please r/r this one too.  
  
It was early afternoon when classes finally let out, but for many it it was not the end of the day, and a stream of Gryffindors trailed out to the Quidditch field bundled up in their fur cloaks and wool socks. It was early November, and the weather had taken a cold turn, leaving the air crisp and clear.  
  
James couldn't help but notice the flushed look that made Lily seem quite pretty, or the sparkle in her green eyes...  
  
... but he soon forgot about that. He needed to regain his place in Wood's favor.  
  
"Scrimaging," Wood began, seeming no less detemined despite the cold weather, "is the most important Quidditch, because it's the most like an actual game." He glared at them. "You may be able to fly fast, pass well, even avoid bludgers, but if you can'tput these together, you'll never be good at playing Quidditch." He waited a few minutes for this to sink in. Lily and James both lifted there heads a bit higher, as though Wood's speech had applied personally to them and they were prepared to meet the challenge head on.  
  
Having said this, Wood divided them into two teams, and left it to them to sort out who played what.  
  
"Well, I'm the seeker," Gildroy said, with an air of total assurance. He wasimmediatly shouted down, which led to an air of total choas.  
  
"QUIET!" Everyone turned, startled, to James.  
  
"Gildroy, why don't you try chaser," he said, but not asthough it weren't a question. "I'll be another chaser, and-"  
  
"Me," Lily cut in, disgruntled that she was on James's team. James glared at her, but didn't contridict.  
  
"Right," he said, looking at the rest. He pointed to a small, wiry second year no one had paid much attention to. "You, umm, Will Chang, isn't it?" The boy nodded. "Why don't you play seeker?" There were several mutters, but no one wished to cross with James Potter. James, looking wistfully at Sirius, who had gone to the other team, appointed two beaters who looked barely strong enough to pick up the club, and a tall, but lanky fifth year to Keeper. "Everybody ready?" James asked, looking over to the other team, whom Sirius had already assembled. "Then...UP!"  
  
A good Quidditch team would have flown up at the same speed. Here, one of the bludgers got left behind on theground, and the other flew into a tree. But eventually the players got prepared (actually, Wood blew his whistle and they were forced to start), and began the play.  
  
James started with the quaffle, but was immediatly blocked by Gildroy, who wasfumbling with his robes.  
  
"Gildroy!" he yelled, while Lily called, "Pass it!" To the suprise of the opposing team, he feinted around Sirius and dropped it to Lily, who sped towards the goal. Sirius, with no real malice, chacked the bludger at Lily.  
  
"Lily!" James yelled, more worried about the quaffle then her. Lily ducked just in time, and the bludger ran straight into the other side's keeper, who groaned and clutched his stomach. Lily tossed the ball in the goal.  
  
"Yeah!" James shouted, so caught up in the game he forgot he didn't like Lily. Between the two of them, they had the other team running in circles, with only occasional misshaps involving Sirius and blundering Gildroy, who for his life couldn't do anything except perhaps fall on a broomstick. Sirius, not suprisingly, was a very good beater, and made it quite obvious that relationships off the field didn't count for anything on the field, and his attacks resulted in many near fractures for both James and Lily.  
  
Wood surveyed the sweaty throng of students lying on the ground before him, torn between astonishment and dismay; Evans had been suprisingly good, and the second year, Chang, had heen a relatively good seeker. But with those three, and Sirius, there were still three spots open on the team, and for his life he hadn't seen anyone that could possible fill them.  
  
"Well," he said at last. "Tommorrow is the last day of tryouts, and..." he stopped, and sighed. Four players couldn't make up a team of seven. "Come out as early as possible tommorrow, ready to play." He sighed again.  
  
The students slowly and painfully drew themselves up, and began limping ack to the castle. Sirius had been quite ferious with his bludger, but hadn't directed it at anyone but Lily and James who had both been extremely evasive. The injuries were mostly results of collisions-often between teamates-and the few unaimed smacks the other three beaters managed.  
  
Lily didn't feel like going in just get, and shot up on her broom again, tossing left over quaffles through the goal. Seeing her, James almost smiled.  
  
"Looking at the setting sun, I suppose?" Sirius sighed dramatically. "What a lovely night out... I don't suppose you're up for some more practice?"  
  
James opened his mouth to say no, but caught himself. He had wanted to become the bestat this, even ifit did mean working. And the tryouts today had not been the most taxing he'd ever expeirenced.  
  
  
"Hey, Evans!" he shouted, his voice cutting through the thin air. "How 'bout someone one on one?"  
  
Lily flew back to the ground, looking suprised. "Yeah, sure." She turned, and smiled at Sirius. "With him chucking the bludger at iboth/i of us." She wasn't about to get teamed up against.  
  
"Fair enough," James said, while Sirius smiled in delight.   
  
"Ready," Sirius said, holding the quaffle up. "Go!" He threw the ball up in the air, and immediatly whacked a bludger after it.  
  
One on one in quidditch was much like the muggle sportof basketball without the rules; the point was to steal and carry the ball withou getting knocked by the bludger... or the other player.  
  
Lily swooped into take the quaffle, but it was knocked quickly from her hands by the bludger, leaving James to catch it easily. He sped to the goal, Lily following closely, and would have scored, had not Sirius whacked the bludger at him and forced him to stop suddenly. Lily stole the Quaffle from his hands,and flew across the field, only to drop it as Sirius's well aimed bludger forced iher/i to stop. Unfortuanately, James was right behind her, and thumped into her quite forcefully, sending her flying-without the broom beneath her. James slid right off his broom onto her, but the bludger returned with a vengeance, hitting the end of her broom and sending him after her.  
  
"Ow." Lily said, thankful that the grass was soft enough to break her fall. "That hurt."  
  
"Understatement of the year," James moaned, glad that Lily had broken i his/ifall. "It was your fault, though."  
  
"My fault!" Lily would have jumped up, but it required to much energy. "iYou/i pushed i me/i!"  
  
"You stopped...-  
  
"I must say," Sirius said, gliding gently to the ground. "The two of you make a lovely couple."  
  
James was all prepared to jump up and strangle Sirius, but he needn't have bothered because Lily used the remainder of he strenght to shove James off of her and sprawling into Sirius.   
  
"Sirius," she said, attempting to hide her contempt.  
  
"Ye-es,"he replied, batting his eyelashes.  
  
"I suggest that you James get off the field before I give in and kill you both." Shesaid this with utter calmness,but her eyes glinted dangerously.  
  
Sirius smiled. "But you can't kill us." He pointed towards James. "Who would make you're speech about women?" James groaned, whether from physical pain or the thought of his almost certain ordeal it wasn't certain.  
  
"Good point," Lily growled, but she was -almost- smiling. "I can't kill James. But there's absolutely nothing stopping me from hurting you." She smiled a smile Sirius could have sworn was evil.  
  
"Prongs, buddy, it's time to go," he said hurridly, pulling James up. James groaned, still disoriented.  
  
"What?" he mumbled, as Sirius attempted to drag him across the field. "Bye, Lily." He smiled, as though remebering something, closedhis eyes, and promptly fell asleep. Sirius was tempted to leave him there, with Lily still looking slightly malicious, but just couldn't do it and instead magicked him towards the castle.  
  
After a nice, hot shower James returned to himself, though his memory was still a bit foggy. He wentdown to the common room and made a weak attempt to do homework, but because of the noise surrounding him and his own weak self-imposed will. He found his gaze resting outside, through the window.  
  
Though it was almost winter, it was only late afternoon and the sky held just the beginnings of dusk, the setting su leaving a radiant glow of orange and pink across the darkining clouds. A lone figure danced across the sun, a girl on a broomstick doing a series of spins and twists. Th golden like on herrobes and red hair flyingout behind her, she looked lke an anglefrom heaven.  
  
Seeing her, James smiled, though he himself could not have told you why. He grabbed his own cloak.  
  
"It's cold." James huddled his cloak around him. Lily skidded to the ground.  
  
"Thanks, I hadn't noticed." Lily flew back up to the field. James smiled in ironic amusement, and began the long trek back to the castle. Lily, with an exasperated sigh, flew back and intercepted him.  
  
"Did you come all this way to tell me that?" she asked, hovering in front of him.  
  
James considered for a moment,quite uncharacteristically. "Yeah." He shrugged, and walked on.  
  
Lily watched him go, unsure of what had just happend. "Whatever,"she muttered, unwilling to contemplate it much further. She sped back to the field.  
  
  
That was the fourth part! Yeah! So, it was kind of weird, i know, but please please please r/r (i know it wasn't great... quidditch gets boring after awhile. 


	5. Part V

Okay, i've listened to inside out fifty billion times today. I don't even really like the song. Anyhow, i have a history essay, and while i'm waiting for my teacher to send me back my thesis, i think i'll wirte part five  
  
I would swallow my pride  
I would choke on the rhines  
But the lack thereof   
would leave me empty inside   
I would swallow my doubt  
Turn it inside out   
Find nothing but faith in nothing   
Want to put my tender   
Heart in a blender  
Watch it spend round   
To a beautiful oblivion  
Rendezvous  
Then I'm through with you   
  
I think this acuratelly describes l/j. More j than l. Whatever. Totally random, if you prefer.  
  
"...Egyptian mummies were a way a of preserving the bodies of wizards so that their powerwould remain inact. The spells involved included..-"Proffessor Binns droned on, completely unaware that half his class had fallen asleep. Or at least until snoring interuppted.  
  
"Ms. Evans!" The ghost gave her a reproving look. "I suppose you know so much about Egyptian mummies you have no need to pay attention?"  
  
Lily rubbed her eyes. She'd been up late again, working on the History essay. Right now she was too tired to think.  
  
"Yes, actually," she muttered. Proffessor Binns heard, and his translucent body turned abrilliant shade of red.  
  
"Ms Evans!" he squealed, his voice reaching as higher pitch than any ordinary male could have reached, with the sole exception of Proffessor Flitwick. "Then, by all means, why don't you share your essay with us!"  
  
The students in the classroom muttered amongst themselves. Lily was too tired to notice, and Binns was in more oblivious than usual in his anger. Lily was usual entirely respectful of the teachers, to the point which disgusted many of her classmates. James, who had been dozing off, perked up slighty (actually, he open his eyes and attempted signs of life) when he saw Lily walking drowsily towards the front of the room.  
  
"Egyptian mummies," she began, clearing her throat. With a change of mind, she put the paper down, and looked directly at... or rather, through, the ghost. "Egyptian mummies were a fruitless attempts to regain immortality through a series of absurd incantations which have absolutely no relevance to us." She looked up tiredly to find utter silence.  
  
"Yeah Evans!" someone shouted. The students burst into appluase. Proffessor Binns looked ready to explode. Lily went back to her seat and promptly fell asleep, so she didn't hear, when he finally recovered his insubstantial tongue, Binns tell her that she had detention.  
  
"Are you Lily Evans?" James was lounging outside the door when Lily came out after a long lecture from Proffessor Binns.  
  
"No, I'm not." She sounded sarcastic, but there was more to it than that. Realizing something, she asked, "Um, didn't Charms start a couple minutes ago?" Frowning in concentration, as thoughtrying to remebersomething,she turned to James. "What are you doing here?"  
  
James laughed off her hostility. "Since when did I care about being late to class? Besides, ifyou walked to class by yourself you would end up on the Quidditch field or somewhere equally remote."  
  
In her dazedstate what Jamessaid made perfect sense to Lily, but the Quidditch field brought up memories that were naggingatthe back of her mind. She shook herheadto clearit as James steered her into the charms classroom. Sirius gave aknowing smile to his friend, which James chase to ingore. Flitwick had long ago decided that both James and Lily were the most heavenly of students and didn't berate them for being late.  
  
But the bouncing charms did serve to wake Lily up, if only because it's hard to stay asleep when rabbits were pouncing all around the classroom.  
  
What was I thinking? Lily asked herself. And she wasn't refering to her little speech in History.  
  
"There so cute!" Karana had chosen to cuddle the rabbits instead of charm them. "Don't they get hurt from flying around the room like this?" She rubbed one of the rabbits bruised nose.  
  
"I'm sure Madam Pomfrey can take care of it," Lily said, not paying attention. But she was no longer tired, just lost in thought.  
  
Karana looked at her friend, puzzled for a moment, then smiling as she realized something. "So," she said,giving her frienda knowing look. "How's Quidditch going?"  
  
"Okay." Lily laughed shortly, and came out of her trance. "It's kind of funny, actually; I thought I'd have trouble making the team and now I realize that the trouble is going to be finding six other players who can, you know, stay on there brooms long enough to score a goal."  
  
Karana smiled. Her friend hadn't been in such a good mood in awhile. "Anyone else any good?" And most people would have thought subtlety wasn't Karana's strong point.  
  
"Oh, well there's Sirius, this second year named Will, and James, of course..." Lily shook her head again, and muttered a charm over the rabbit.  
  
"Lily!" Proffessor Flitwik squeaked, rushing over. "It's Elivatus, not allivatus!" He smiled at the that rabbit which now occupied multiple bodies. "We have enough rabbits as is, I really don't think we need ten more!"  
  
Karana scooped up one of the miniature bunnies. "They're cuter than flying bunnies, anyhow," she murmered into the rabbits fur. "C'mon, Lily, you probably should put the rabbits back into one body before you go.  
  
Lily laughed,and said the revocation. "But they were so cuuute," she mimickedher friend good naturedly.  
  
Karana just smiled.  
  
"So," Sirius said, on the other side of the classroom.  
  
"So." James lifted an eyebrow and sent a rabbit whizzing across the room.  
  
"So...?" Sirius looked at his friend questioningly.  
  
"So...?" James returned.  
  
"You came to class late," Sirius said, commenting on it as though it were the weather.  
  
"I usually do," James told him. His rabbit began bouncing in various directions, including on top of Sirius.  
  
"But not usually because you've been waiting for a certain someone to come out of the classroom," Sirius shot back.  
  
"Astute observation." But James smiled, a sort of silly smile.  
  
Sirius shook his head. "You have it bad, Prongs my friend." He put the rabbits back into the cage. "Time for lunch." He rubbed his stomach hungrily. "And no lovesick friend is going to hold me up." And he dragged James out of the room, protesting all the way.  
  
"You know," Karana said as she sat down to the table. "There's a dance coming up soon." Her eyes glinted; her comment had a specific purpose, but she was going to have fun with it as well. "I wonder who Amos Diggory's taking..."  
  
Lily just smiled.  
  
  
"Are you going to ask her, or not?" Sirius persisted.  
  
James shook his head, unsure, then slowly nodded. "I guess I might as well... I mean, there's no one else I have any particular intrest in."  
  
Sirius looked at his friend, and for a moment he didn't speak. "You do realize you rival Snape in the ego department, right?" he asked lightly, hoping his works would at least pentrate James skull to some extent. But it didn't; at least, not immediatly.  
  
Lily rushed down the flights of stairs the dugeons, cursing herself for being late. She'd forgotton her potions book, which was a no win situation; Avery would be mad if she came on time without it or late with it. She was just about to open the door when...  
  
"Peeves!" she yelled, frustrated. "GO AWAY!" There wassuch anger in her voice that Peeves did actually turn to go.  
  
"Touchy, touchy," he muttered, zooming off to go harass someone else.  
  
"Um...Lily?" Lily turned to find James Potter standing behind her.  
  
"Do you ever go to class on time?" Lily asked crossly.  
  
"No," James told her lightly. "But you haven't been doing so well yourself." He smiled, and Lily scowled. "Anyhow, do you want to go to the Thanksgiving dance with me?"  
  
Lily looked at him, suprised...then smiled, and opened her mouth...  
  
Then clamped it shut.  
  
"You don't expect me to say no, do you?" she asked, harshness edging around her voice.   
  
James was utterly speechless, because he hadn't expectered her to say no.  
  
"Just what I thought." Lily scowled, and pushed open the door to potions, leaving James stunned behind her.  
  
Karana noted that her friends good mood had swiftly dissappeared.  
  
  
  
So, I know that was kind of weird, but i couldn't bear for them to go off and live happily ever after just yet...so very sorry, but it really did seem to soon...anyhow, r/rplease! 


	6. Part VI

If you do not want to see me again  
I would understand  
  
Third Eye Blind - Jumper  
  
It's amzing how many songs fit so perfectly with life (my life, Good Riddance, but totally besides the point). Anyhow, on with Lily regreting then deciding to hate James really hates Lily.  
  
"James got dissed." Sirius was laughing so hysterically he was rolling on the floor. "I never thought...-" he couldn't continue, from lack of breath. "...never..."  
  
James glared at his best friend. "Shut up," he muttered. "You know, this is when you're supposed to be here for me, say it was he dumb mistake, that she's a little b*tch."  
  
"But then I would be telling a lie." Sirius jumped up, turnng serious. "Sorry, Prongs, but you needed that... honestly, that ego of yours..."  
  
'Prongs' glared at Sirius. "I hate her. I honestly, truly, hate her."  
  
  
"Why didn't you say yes?" Karana asked her friend cautiously. But Lily glared at her friend anyway.  
  
"Because he didn't expect me to say no." Lily made it seem like the most obvious statement ever.  
  
Karana plooped down onto her bed, not ready to give up that easily. "So you just do whatever people don't expect you to do?" There was childish naivity in her voice, but she had intended it that way, in order to make her question look completly innocent.  
  
"No...well, yes, if must know." Lily scowled, frustrated. She didn't know what she wanted.  
  
Karana smiled at her friend knowingly. "Quidditch tryouts started five minutes ago, in case you wondering." Lily gasped, turned red, turned pale, grabbed her broom, and sprinted out of the room. Karana lifted an eyebrow.  
  
  
"Sorry!" Lily skidded her broom to a halt inches away from Wood. "I...lost track of time." She glanced over at James, who was pointedly not looking her way. "Sorry," she repeated quietly. But she wasn't talking to Wood.  
  
Wood looked slightly miffed that Lily didn't see Quidditch as a life and death matter, but seemed to like hr enough to momentarily forget that fact.   
  
"Right... well today, we're going to split you up into different positions," he looked over thegroup desparingly, praying that he'dmissed something the past two days of tryouts. "I'll be working primarily with the keepers, but check in on the rest of you. Sirius will run some drills through with the beaters," he turned to glare at Sirius,giving him a look that clearly said NO TROUBLE. Sirius smiled innocently. "James and Lily, why don't you work with the chasers." He turned to smile at Lily and James. Apparently he'd forgotton he was mad at James. "If you're a seeker...please come talk to me." He gave a brief smile to Will Chang, who nodded and walked over to Sirius.  
  
"I'm supposed to help you," he said shyly. "Actually...I'm supposed to be a moving target. Coach thinks it'll improve my game."  
  
Sirius lifted an eyebrow, mind racing through all the possibilities of a willing moving target. He smiled, rubbing his hands together. "Yo!" he shouted, causing Wood to look up from his you-didn't-make-the-team speech. "Beaters! Shake your butt and get over here!"  
  
Wood dismissed the would-be seekers, and beckoned to Lily and James. Both looked up to see if Gildroy's feet were among those trudging away, but were dissappointed. Neither looked at eachother.  
  
"I'm going to be spending most of my time with the Keepers and Beaters today." He turned to glare at Sirius. "Which means I'm pretty much trusting your judgement on the third chaser." Lily smiled slighty; it was one thing to be pretty sure you were on the team, and entirely another to hear it from the coaches own lips.   
  
They nodded, and went to the five assembled chasers. And still not a word had passed between them.  
  
"Right," Lily said, after checking to make sure James wasn't going to take charge. "Um... why don't you start off just passing back and forth?" The students nodded, and lept into the air. Except Gildroy. Of course.  
  
"Okay," he said, smiling at both of them. "I know you were just trying to get rid of them, so you can tell me I made the team. But you needn't bother. I already knew." He smile was so infuriating Lily wanted to scream.  
  
"Gildroy," she said, her voice dropping to deadly menace. Gildroy didn't notice and only smiled wider. "Go with the rest." Her voice was so commanding Gildroy backed up a couple steps, and flew off. Or tried to, because he fell off his broom.  
  
"James," Lily said, turning with frustation away from Gildroy. James didn't reply. "You can't just keep ignoring me! If nothing else, we're on the team together."  
  
"There's nothing to say," James said, still not looking at her. All of a sudden his mood changed, and he became someone else entirely. "Guess we got to go torture the trainees." He smiled, not at her, but a malicious smile. James flew off, leaviing Lily stunned behind him.  
  
"Right then!" Sirius had adopted an Australian accent, and was now pacing infront of the the three beaters and single Seeker. "You're here to do one thing, and one thing only." He glared at them in mock ferociousness. "Totally destroy the other team!" He smiled, and gestured to Will Chang. "This is your menacing opponent." There were several sniggers. Will blushed, and Sirius thrust his face at one of the perpitrators. "Think that's funny, do you? I'd like to see you score a hit on that un!"  
  
James and Lily were not having as much fun, though James was now speaking to Lily. Ableit superficially.  
  
"Jesse's not bad," Lily said, pointing out a lanky third year who, despite a bit of quaffle fumbling, was relatively good.  
  
"Naw," James said, scruntizing the player. "He's off balance...look at him...-  
  
"Well there aren't exactly loads of options here!" Lily scowled, annoyed that James's mood had changed so quickly. Though she'd never admit it, she was just as proud as him, and would have prefferred that he had taken awhile to get over her.  
  
"Well...fine...Jesse Anters, or whatever his name was." Lily was missing a tiny, key point in James over cocky attitude. Mainly, that he was over cocky.  
  
"Jesse Antehyst," Lily corrected, frowning. "James, just...ugh! You're so frustrating!"  
  
"What, is that all?" James asked, slipping back in bitterness. "Nothing else wrong with me?"  
  
"You know, just because you aren't used to having people say no to you..." Lily whirled around to face him, looking up at him through blazing green eyes.  
  
"YOU KNOW," James mimicked, staring her eye for eye. "You're just afraid you might actually care."  
  
Lily couldn't help herself. "What hint did I EVER give you to make you think I liked you? When? If you're ego weren't overflowing out of you're robes you never would have gotton the dumb idea into you're inflated head!" Lily stopped,panting. She'd said it all in one breath. "I...I'm...I didn't mean...-" but it was too little, too late. James had already kamikazied over too Wood.   
  
"I quit."  
  
Lily's resignation, which was only moments later, was slightly more polite. "Wood...I'm sorry."  
  
Wood stared at the two receeding figures, which, defying the laws of line of sight, did NOT move closer as they drew closer to the horizen. Sirius shook his head sadly, almost serious.  
  
"Those two," he said, leaning over to Will, "Are NEVER going to get it together." He watched them with a lopsided grin.  
  
  
  
  
Yeah, I'm sorry,i was going to have them make up and be friends, but i guess that'll come next time...anyhow,r/r 


	7. Part VII

Lily Hates James Hates Lily, Part VII  
  
sorry bout my little sidetracks...i'm still trying to figure out exactly how lil and jamsie are going to get together. Going with the muse here. Anyhow, r/r  
  
  
  
Karana was walking, or rather, running to meet with Professor Flitwick. She'd found that the couple hours between the end of school and dinner were the perfect time to slip off without anyone noticing her. She didn't want them to think she was smart, did she?  
  
She glanced at her watch. Flitwick was going to kill her! Well, maybe that was a bi of an exaggeration. Flitwick didn't seem capable of killing anyone.  
  
And it was while she was thinking about the numerous ways that she could die that a warm, heavy, and slightly frustrated force knocked into her.  
  
"James?" she squinted through someone's glasses, which had fallen upside down on her nose. "Um...what are you doing?"  
  
But before he could answer, or get up, for that matter, someone else screamed his name.  
  
"James! WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY BEST FRIEND?" Karana had never seen her best friend look so furious... or dangerous.  
  
"What's it any of your business? We aren't on the team together, remember?" James pulled himself up, but didn't bother to offer a hand to Karana.   
  
Lily made a series of undistinguishable noises. "Just...just...go!" she managed to get out.  
  
"What ever you say," James said mockingly. He sauntered off. Lily spun around in the other direction. Karana was left as a discarded pile in the middle of the hall.  
  
"What'd I do?" She asked a suit of armor grumpily. The suit just shrugged.  
  
  
Lily sat on her bed, blankly staring out the window. What happened? She kept asking herself. And she honestly had not a clue.  
  
Someone knocked on the dormitory door. Lily frowned; girls didn't knock and guys weren't supposed to be there. "Yes?" She said uncertainly. The door opened, but there was nobody there.  
  
But there was. Or at least, a dangling arm and a pair of boots. Large, black boots that she recognized. "Sirius?"  
  
A chest appeared, then legs, and finally Sirius's head. "Darn," he said, smiling regretfully. "I was really hoping I'd scare you or something."  
  
"Is that the only reason you came up here?" Lily's tone wasn't annoyed, just curious.  
  
"Naw," Sirius told her, seating himself, uninvited, on the bed across from hers. "Wood was...um, slightly...not happy. Mildly put."  
  
Lily almost smiled, conjuring up an image of what the Professor must have looked like. "I can imagine," she told him truthfully.  
  
"Yeah." Sirius smiled too, remembering Wood's face which had looked so like a stunned bull. And then he frowned, remembering how the bull had charged. "Lily, we really need you both back on the team." He looked at her beggingly. "Do you know what will happen if I get beaten by Snape? Snape?" His voice rose on the last note.  
  
Lily shook her head regretfully. "I would go talk to James, instead. He's more likely to go back on the team if I'm not on it."  
  
Sirius realized that this was true, but wasn't about to give up. "Well...he's not exactly in the best mood right now." He smiled grimly. "Lily... just why do the two of you hate each other so much?"  
  
Lily frowned. Yesterday she could have given him a long list. Now all she could think of was egotistical. Which she told Sirius, quite vehemently.  
  
"Whoa!" Sirius exclaimed, scooting back. "Sorry I asked...but couldn't the two of you just try and get along, for the teams sake." He smiled. "You know, kiss and make up?"  
  
Lily threw a pillow at his head.  
  
"Or not, whichever." Sirius rubbed his bruised head. "But please, just think about it?" He gave her one last, pleading look, before slipping out. Lily looked regretfully at the spot where he had been sitting, trying to remember what she had been thinking before he had walked in.  
  
She couldn't sleep that night. Or at least, she wasn't sure whether she slept or not,as she floated between her dream world and reality. In both, something nagged at the back of her mind.  
  
Must be History paper, some voice in the back of her brain told her. And then she felt like she was running, running to Professor Binns to tell him she was sorry...but couldn't get to him because something was in her way.  
  
"Lily!"  
  
Lily opened her eyes. Where had the voice come from? For that matter, where was she? She was not in the familiar settings of her bed, but in a dark, creepy corridor.  
  
"Lily." The voice came again. Lily looked up to find the bespeckled eyes of James Potter looking down at her. Lily looked around her again, this time slightly more aware, and realized she was in the stairway between her room in the common room.  
  
"How'd I get here?" she wondered aloud.  
  
"You walked." James gave her a slightly disgusted look, as though it were the most obvious thing in the world.  
  
Lily rubbed her head, only now becoming aware of a dull throbbing in her head. "Oof. I feel like I just ran into something."  
  
"Yeah," James said, scowling. "Me."  
  
Lily sat down abruptly on the step, trying to figure out exactly what had happened. "How'd I do that?"  
  
"How should I know?" James looked thoroughly exasperated. "I was just up late studying, and you come sprinting down the stairs like all of hell's chasing after you." He stopped, realizing what he had just said.  
  
Lily took a couple minutes to pick up on it. "I was ...wait, you were studying?" She laughed tiredly, and gave him a disdainful look. "You and Karana really should get together, you know. Honestly, the two of you..."  
  
"I don't want to go out with Karana," James said vehemently, looking offended. "I want to...  
  
He clamped his mouth shut stubbornly before he continued further. Lily was still trying to figure out what was going on.  
  
"Remind me again, why do you hate me?" She asked, with childlike curiosity.  
  
"I'm not the one who turned down someone else for a date to the randomly-placed-dance-between-Halloween-and-Christmas-that-isn't-Thanksgiving-because-we-don't-celebrate-it-here-in-England," James said in one breath.  
  
"Oh." Lily thought for a moment, and then asked, "So why do I hate you?" Then she frowned in concentration. "Oh, I remember. Your ego."  
  
"Gee, thanks," James muttered sarcastically.  
  
"Well, you do," Lily told him, but only half-heartedly. Then she looked up, meeting his gaze. "I am sorry about what I said earlier. You really should go back on the team; Wood will kill me if you don't."  
  
But James didn't listen to the second statement. "So you do like me?" he asked, slightly condescendingly.  
  
Lily scowled. "Why do you always assume everything?"  
  
James smiled. "Because you don't state anything."  
  
Lily's scowl grew deeper as she realized what he said was true. "So?"  
  
"So nothing." James sat down on the step next to her. "You never tell anybody anything; it's a simple fact."  
  
Lily back against the wall. "Yeah, I know." She sighed.  
  
"So," James continued reasonably, "You leave people guessing about what you're feeling, which forces them to assume."  
  
Lily sat quietly, thinking."Maybe," she said, more to herself then to him,"maybe, I was afraid you were right."  
  
James smiled, but not his usual arrogant smile, and wrapped his arms around Lily. "I'm always right," he told her.  
  
Lily's only response was to snore softly.  
  
On the landing above them, two shadows huddled in the darkness. "Sirius, you owe me five knuts," one of them whispered.  
  
The other scowled, his features visible in the pale moonlight. "But they did makeup!" he whispered fiercely.  
  
"But they didn't kiss," Karana taunted him softly. "C'mon, you can go get them from your room. She looked down at the two sleeping figures. "We should probably leave them alone."  
  
  
Whew! I wasn't sure if they actually were going to get together or not. Anyhow, r/r, and take notice that it is no longer the thanksgiving dance but a random one between Halloween and christmas. 


	8. Part VIII

Itsy Bitsy little author's note:  
  
First of all, i know i have a billion things going at once, sorry bout that. I've decided to continue the ones that are most successful, and let the other ones sit to see if people like them. Which means, review if you want them continued.  
  
Following that, i'm starting yet another series back with hermione and harry and ron, but that will come later. I think it's going to be called the Song of a Feather (don't ask, thee are a bunch of birds and other wind creatures, but at least i've moved past naming the dumb things of songs).  
  
Lastly, you really didn't think Lily and James were going to go live happily ever after, did you? No, this series will be at least a few longer. But there's a little twist...  
  
Enter Snape.  
  
Lily Hates James Hates Lily, Part VIII  
  
"Whew!" Lily collapsed against the wall, and started talking to the ceiling. "I thought he was going to kill us!" She could still see Wood's face contorted in something that looked like a mixture of fury and relief.  
  
"No, really, I thought he was going to hug us," James told her, slightly sarcastically. Lily lifted an eyebrow, and James smiled kind of sheepishly.  
  
"Please, don't get so mushy." It was easy to see where James got his bits of sarcasm from. "Much more and you too will be back to hating each other."  
  
"Awww, Sirius." Lily draped her arm around Sirius's broad shoulders. "You know you wouldn't wish it any other way."  
  
"Hey!" James exclaimed, feeling neglected. "You're my date to the RPDBHACTITBWDCIHIE." He ducked under Lily's other arm.  
  
"Somebody's poss-es-ive," Sirius said in a singsong voice. Lily gave Sirius one of those looks that get meaning across much better than words.  
  
"He is," Sirius said defensively, pouting. "And don't look at me that way..."  
  
"Hey!" James exclaimed. "She can do whatever ever she wants. She's my date," he added smugly.  
  
Date or no, Lily despised people-men, in particular-who said stuff like that. She elbowed him lightly in the stomach. "I can do what ever I want to do-because I'm me." She gave a meaningful glare at James before climbing through the portrait hole. James rubbed his bruised stomach.  
  
"You know," he said, almost thoughtfully. "The ones that don't think are so much easier to deal with."  
  
Sirius gave him the Are-you-two-years-old condescending look. "But they're so much more fun!" He said jovially, with a not so light pound on James's back. Now James arms were wrapped around him, as one rubbed his front and the other his back.  
  
"You, Prongs buddy," Sirius said draping his arm around James, "are a wimp."  
  
"It hurt!" James said defensively.  
  
"So will your heart if you let that girl go," Sirius told him, with more sincerity than he usually spoke with. He indicated the portrait hole.  
  
"I guess so," James said, pouting slightly, his lip sticking out ever so slightly. Sirius was forced to give him the preschool teacher look again. "Fine." And James sauntered through the portrait hole. Sirius smiled to himself, and followed.  
  
"Some-body's in lo-ve," Karana sang softly, using a voice much like the one Sirius had used earlier.  
  
"I like him," Lily delayed.  
  
"And yesterday you hated him," Karana pointed out. "Keep up this progress, next week you'll be married with children."  
  
Lily frowned, listening. "What do you think Severus will say?"  
  
Karana scowled. "What does it matter? He dumped you last year, remember?" She looked at her friend as though Lily must not have realized this fact; or else she would not have been asking the question.  
  
"I just...value his opinion," Lily said, thinking aloud. "I mean..."  
  
"Lily." Karana sat down in front of her and looked her in the eye. "Stop acting so stuck up. You like James, you shouldn't pay attention to what other people say."  
  
Lily smiled weakly. "So why am I paying attention to you?"  
  
"Because..." Karana stood up and spread her arms for dramatic effect, "... I'm your wonderful, kind, caring..."  
  
"Not to mention beautiful," a voice cut in from the door to the girls room. They turned to find Sirius leaning against the door frame. "Lily, James said something about meeting him down at the Quidditch field." He lifted his eyebrows suggestively. Lily threw a sock at him, but nether less grabbed her cloak.  
  
"Sirius,I think you should know you're a wonderful messenger, and I think you've found your true calling in life." Lily smiled sweetly as she pushed past him.  
  
Sirius didn't bother, with a reply, but instead watched her go down the stairs.  
  
"Go spy?" Karana asked hopefully.  
  
Sirius grinned with just a tinge of evilness. "What else?" He checked again to make sure Lily was safely out of the portrait hole, then crept quietly after her.  
  
  
"It's cold," Lily told James as she walked out onto the field, wrapping her cloak around her. Her feet made a crunching sound as they stepped across the frozen grass.  
  
"Did you come all the way out here just to tell me that?" James smiled, walking over to meet her.  
  
"Maybe." Lily smiled slightly coyly.  
  
"And maybe not," James told her, wrapping his arms lightly around her waist.  
  
"Hmm..." Lily snuggled at bit closer to James. "I was sure there was something else I was thinking about..."  
  
"Like this, perhaps." The breath was visible in the frigid air as James bent his head slowly to kiss her. Their lips, or at least the frozen layers covering there lips, were just barefullly touching when a harsh voice broke their peace.  
  
"Evans!" Lily cringed, recognizing the voice without having to turn around. "We've got Quidditch practice now, so if you would mind finding a room...preferably mine...we could get on with it." Lucius sneered nastily at the double meaning of her words.  
  
"Lucius..." one the Slytherins, bundled up in green robes, called cautiously.  
  
"Shut up, Snape." Lucius approached the couple. "Get sick of Slytherins so fast, Evans?" Even the cold air couldn't rid his breath of its rotten smell, Lily squished up her nose.  
  
"What, can't find anyone else?" Lily asked, mockingly. "C'mon, James, we should let them have the field, it's the most play they'll ever get."   
  
James bent over and kissed her forehead lightly. "You can be really vicious sometimes, you know that," he whispered.  
  
"I know," Lily mumbled back, drawing his arms around her.  
  
"Lovely, really." Lucius looked like he was going to puke. "Would you mind?"  
  
"No, not at all," James told him, smiling overly sweetly. Lucius got a toothache just from looking at him. James bent over Lily and kissed her deeply, for several long seconds.  
  
Lucius's jaw had dropped in utter disgust by the time they were done. Severus, or at least the parts of him that could be seen behind the layers of robes, frowned slightly.  
  
"Sweet, charming actually," Lucius said, his voice dripping in sarcasm. "I guess now we know why you talked Wood into letting Lily on the team."  
  
"You little-" Lily cut herself off, refraining from using muggle curse words. She grabbed her broom, which she had forgotten until now, and had it aiming dangerously close to Lucius's head.  
  
"Not now," James told her, taking the broom gently from her hand.  
  
"How come you get to be the cool-headed one?" Lily complained.  
  
"I've been standing out in the cold longer," he told her, slightly ruefully. Lucius looked at them mockingly.  
  
"You know, just out of the kindness of my heart, I think I won't say anymore." Lucius sneered nastily while Lily stifled giggle about his kindness. "But only so I can take greater joy in beating you both on Saturday." He smiled.  
  
"Yeah, you're going to beat us," Lily told him sarcastically. "And the stars are going to start raining from the sky."  
  
"You said I was the sarcastic one?" James bent around to look her in the face. She smiled.  
  
"Uhh..." One of the bulkier slytherins scratched his head.  
  
"No, Crabbe, the stars are not going to fall from the sky!" Impatience was creeping into Lucius's voice. "She was being sarcastic!"  
  
"So..." Crabbe paused for a moment in deep contemplation. "If the stars aren't going to fall from the sky, we're going to lose?" He looked to the quidditch captian for approval.  
  
"NO!" Lucius looked thoroughly exasperated. "Just...go." He waved his hands around in fury. Crabbe, of course to this literally, and turned to leave. "No you idiot!" Lucius screamed, once again. "Stay! Don't move! Don't think!"  
  
Lily and James were in hysterics. Lucius scowled in them.  
  
"You're not going to find it quite so funny when he rams you over in the game this weekend." Lucius was not happy.  
  
Lily couched, and cleared her voice. "I really must congratulate you, Malfoy. Perfect strategy. Pick the dumbest players you can so know one can guess the depths of stupidity they'll go to."  
  
"Hey..." Crabbe tried to figure out if he had been insulted.  
  
"SHUT UP!" Lucius screamed. "Just shut up. Is that clear? Can you get that through your abnormally thick skull?" Lucuis was frustrated.  
  
"I always wondered how you made friends," James commented, quite innocently.  
  
Lucius laughed evilly. "No, this is how I make friends." He turned to Lily. "I purpose a little bet." James opened his mouth to protest, but Lily nodded. "If we win the quidditch match on Saturday, you get to go to the dance with the abnormally long name that I really don't feel like saying with me."  
  
"RPDBHACTITBWDCIHIE." James muttered. Lucius ignored him.  
  
"And if you win-"   
  
Lily cut him off. "You're going with Crabbe." Lucius scowled, but nodded.  
  
"Fine." He said.  
  
"Fine. You know," Lily said, turning to James. "Speaking of bets reminds me..."  
  
"Can we have the field now?" Lucius asked, clearly at the end of whatever patience he might have.  
  
"Sure." Lily started tugging an unwilling James behind her. "As I was saying, I believe you have a certain speech to make tomorrow...  
  
"You wouldn't."  
  
"I would."  
  
"Please?"  
  
"I've already given you permission to make the speech, James."  
  
"Lily, you can't be serious."  
  
"Yes I can..."  
  
  
  
Well, I meant for them to start argueing, but i guess bi'll have to wait for the puppy love to wear off. Despite all the sarcasm, i'm actually in a good mood, so please review so i can stay that way. Oh, and i ran spell check this time (which i normally am too lazy to do) and realized that instead of putting barely in, i put barefully. Well, i like barefully better, so it's staying. 


	9. Part IX

Lily Hates James Hates Lily Part IX  
  
Hehehe...I'm going to have fun with this. I'd give u a subtitle, but this one ur going to have to actually read. Anyhow, you know the deal, r/r  
  
  
"You look good in scarlet robes." James followed Lily out of the portriat hole, a sly grin on his face.  
  
Lily ignored him. "Do you have you speech prepared?" She smiled at him sweetly.  
  
"Do I get a kiss?" James stepped ahead so he was blocking her path. Lily smiled, and tilted her head up so James could kiss her... and stepped aside at the last moment.  
  
"After your speech." Lily continued walking down the hallway. James sighed and raced off to follow her into the great hall.  
  
It was an age old tradition for Quidditch teams to be up early than everybody else. As it was, Lily and James were the last ones there, Wood up pacing by the teacher's table, the Slytherins huddled together as a morphing mass of green, and Gryffindor's own players restlessly playing with their food. Of all of them, only the red haired seventh year keeper Arthur Weasly was eating. Even Sirius looked nervous.  
  
Will Chang looked up as they approached. "It's raining," was his greeting. He indicated the grey ceiling.  
  
James moaned, and slid onto the bench next to the Gildroy. Through lack of better choice, Wood ended up putting Gildroy in as beater, presumably with the idea Gildroy's head was large enough to distract the buldger from more important teamates.  
  
Gildroy smiled brightly. "Well, looks like a fine day for me to make my debut as Gryffindor's star player." He went on, singing his own praises. James buried his head in his hands.  
  
"Roy?" A lanky third year, seated at the end of the table, was furiously glaring at the fifth year through red streaked eyes. "Shut up." Gildroy looked hurt.  
  
"Roy, I'm sure Jesse didn't mean that." Lily smiled slightly at the third year, but hurridly continued as Gildroy opened his mouth. "But maybe we could do with a bit of quiet." She placed a light hand over Gildroy's mouth. He scowled, but did close his mouth.  
  
James looked up as silence settled on the room. "It's-" he stopped short as Lily glared at him. "-time for me to shut up again." He buried his head back in his hands. Lily breathed a sigh of relief. Almost anything James said came out as insult or joke, and Lily really didn't feel like dealing with the responses.  
  
The table sat in silence for several moments longer, until other students began to file into the room.  
  
"You're going to beat them, right?" Amos Diggory asked as he passed them, going to the Hufflepuff table. James smiled sardonically at the seventh year, but didn't bother to answer.  
  
Lily looked with satisfaction at the growing crowd of students. She prodded James in the shoulder. "It's ti-me." She smiled. Next to her, Karana grinned, knowing what was coming.  
  
James scowled, but stood up, abliet slowly, onto the bench. "Um...I'd like your attention, please." He said it dully, clearly not wanting people's attention at all. Lily gave a little 'oh' and reached into her bag, pulling out a portable amplifier. She handed it up to James, who gave a sarcastic smile and mouthed the word 'thanks.'  
  
"I've been told-" here Lily glared at James "-that I have to give a speech on why girls do everything better than boys." Slowly, people turned around to look at him. "So here it is." He glanced down at some notes he had written on his hand.  
  
"Number One. Girls don't have balls, which means they don't do dumb things." Several of the teachers looked startled at this announcement, but Dumbledore shushed them, blue eyes twinking. "Of course, it also means they don't take risks, but seeing as my girlfriend is glaring at me right now, I won't carry that thought further." James smiled as scattered laughs were heard throughout the hall. Even the Slytherins smiled a bit, though an ever deepining scowl was seen on Severus's face.  
  
"Number Two. Girls know how to smile better, which means they can weasle themselves into almost any position." James grinned at the double meaning. Amos Diggory could be seen howling with laughted. Lily's eyes had narrowed into slits. James saw this and hastily changed his plan.  
  
"But lastly, and most importantly, they're nicer, smarter, and generally full of more goodwill, which is how you succeed in life." James beamed down at Lily, whose mouth was curving into an unwilling smile. Several males, including Amos and Lucius, looked dumbfounded at this last statement, but most of the girls, and even a few boys, were clapping thundorously as James sat down.  
  
"You had me worried," Lily told him as he sipped his juice.  
  
"You didn't think I would actually give an entirely sexist speech, did you?" James looked down at Lily, eyes twinkling. Across the table, Sirius smirked, recalling that that was exactly what his friend had intended to do.  
  
Wood was approaching the table, a scowl on his face. "Not what I had in mind when I said 'pre-game prep talk'," he said, indicating James's captains badge. James smiled sweetly as Wood's scowled deepened. "Well, get your team out to the feild. The Slytherins already left." Almost on que, the entire Gryffindor team turned to the Slytherin table, where, indeed, there were seven empty seats, quite noticably as most of them had been occupied by oversized people. One tall, lean figure dresseed in green robes stood by the door.  
  
"Yo, team!" James stood up, using over-mochoness to cover up his anxiety. "Time to go." Five other players stood up, leaving there full plates behind them. James galnced down to where Lily's red hair was still several feet below him. "You coming?"  
  
Lily looked up, and smiled as she saw James's face peering down at her, surrounded by a halo of grey clouds. "Yeah, I'll be there in a second. Go ahead without me." James looked doubtful, but left.  
  
"Lily..." Karana's voice held a certain warning note as her friend stood up.  
  
"I'm just going to talk to him," Lily told Karana, tossing her hair slightly.  
  
"Just as long as you know what you're doing," Karana muttered to her porridge, think the exact opposite. Her friend had already left.  
  
"Hey, Severus," Lily greeted the taller boy with false brightness. "What's up?"  
  
Severus regarded her with a long, calculating stare. Lily fidgeted under his gaze. "I guess you heard the speech..."  
  
Severus sighed dramatically. "Lily, what are you doing?"  
  
"About what?" Lily asked innocently. Severus just gave her a long, penetrating glare. "Alright. He's...different then I thought he'd be." Severus lifted an eyebrow. "So he's not the most... I don't know, politcally correct person I've ever met! He's just... James. I mean, why not?"  
  
"If he's so perfect, why are you defending him to me?" Severus asked, leaning back against the wall.  
  
"I don't know!" Lily looked exasperated. She smiled slightly. "Let's change the subject. Do you know how you'll feel when you lose today?"  
  
Severus smiled good naturedly. "We're not going to lose...though I almost wish we would. Why on earth did you make that bet?" He looked almost worried.  
  
Lily shrugged. "Because we're going to win... and I figured it be good for a laugh, to see Lucius dancing with Crabbe." She grinned. Severus smiled back at her, almost fatherly. "We should have chats more often, Severus. I've missed them."  
  
"We should," Severus agreed, his eyes contianing a faraway look. He shook himself, as though snapping out a daze. "We should also go to the field now, before we're missed." In a display of mock gallantry, he offered her his arm.  
  
Lily grinned as she took it. "Yes we should." Together they began the llong trek to the field.  
  
Behind them, the empty corridor became occupied, body part by body part, as a tall figure slowly removed a silver cloak.  
  
  
The rest of the team was waiting in the locker room when James arrived. "Where were you?" Lily asked, smiling. "You left before me."  
  
James's stomach tightened in anger, but his face didn't reveal anything. "I left something in the dormitory." He smiled, but inside he was burning up. He turned to face the rest of the team. "Are we going to win?" A resounding yes met his question. "Well then let's go out there and do it! You don't need me to say anything." He grinned, and the team began to file out. "Oh, Lily?" Lily turned slowly, as the rest of the team made there way out onto the feild. Jeff Weasly, Arthur's younger brother, was making colorful commentary already up by the stands, and could be heard listing off the first five players off the Gryffindor team.  
  
"Yes?" Lily smiled slightly slyly. "You want that kiss now?"  
  
James ignored her. "Have a nice chat with Snape?" He glared at her. Lily's smile dissappeared quickly.  
  
"You were spying on me?" she asked shrilly.  
  
"With good cause!" James retorted. "I guess we should break up now before you go crawling back to that... that... SLYTHERIN!"  
  
"You... you..." Lily's face was red enough to match her hair. "HOW DARE YOU! I guess we should break up, if you're that suspicious and jealous," she sneered slightly, stomping out onto the field. James followed, face pinched with anger.  
  
"AND HERE'S THE TWO REMAINING PLAYERS FOR THE GRYFFINDOR TEAM!" Jeff's voice came amplified down. "Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lily Evans, and captain JAMES POTTER!" Resounding cheers met both names. Everyone in the stands was too far away to notice the hostility between the last two arrivals.  
  
Proffessor McGonagall, making her debut as Quidditch ref, hovered over James and Lucius. "Shake hands, you two...nicely," she added, as knuckles tightened. James glared at the Slytherin.  
  
"You're going down," he whispered, almost malevolently.  
  
Lucius smirked. "We'll see."   
  
James didn't look at Lily as the whistle blew. 


	10. Part X

Okay...sorry it took me so long, major school work plus the stress of holiday ball...ugh, never, ever, get set up just because you don't feel like taking anyone you know. I can guarantee that's better than taking someone that you don't know. But moving on. Can we say 'rebound' Hehehe...evil laugh  
We're back to Lily hates James hates Lily. And Lily, well, Lily's beginning to like someone else. And, because I'm in a bad mood (this is what you get for being set up, they actually want to ask you out. So now everyone thinks i'm going away for the holidays, which of course I'm not) so there is lotsa fighting. Jamsie getting mad.  
  
"AND THEY'RE UP!" Jeff Weasly began yelling into the amplifier. "The quaffle's in play, Potter with it immediatly. Wait... Snape's blocked him off..." Boo's could be hear in the stands. "But Evans, making her debut as Chaser, is wide open by the left goal...HEY! SNAPE STOLE THE QUAFFLE!" Spectator's could hear muffled swearing as Flitwick hastily covered the amplifier. "He shoots...oh, he justs gets it past Weasly...Arthur I may kill you for that... Slytherin up 10-0."  
  
Out on the feild, sparks were flying. Lily zoomed up next to James as Arthur recovered the Quaffle. "Why didn't you pass to me?" she hissed, green eyes narrowed.   
  
"I don't pass to Slytherins." James didn't look her way. Instead, he watched as Snape scored again.  
  
"Damnit, James, we're going to lose the game if you keep acting this way!" Lily looked positively furious. "Do you want to lose?"  
  
"Well I would have thought you wanted too!" Now James faced her, his face as red as Lily's hair. "So you could take your precious Lucius to dance." He sneered as Lucius scored, and Sirius sent a bludger his way. Lucius just barely avoided having his nose broken.  
  
Lily's reply was cut off by Jeff's voice cutting across the stadium. "What's this? Two Gryffindor's...POTTER AND EVANS? WHAT ARE THEY DOING?" More muffled swearing could be heard. "Um...yes... Anterhyst gets the quaffle...he shoots...HE SCORES! THIRTY - TEN SLYTHERIN!"   
  
Lily tossed her hair back, glaring at James. "Whatever. I'm going to go try because I don't want to lose, but just now, Lucius looks a hell of a lot better than you." She dove off to try and intercept Lucius with the Quaffle.  
  
"I heard that," Lucius said, smiling triumphantly as he tried to get past her.  
  
Lily smiled grimly. "That doesn't mean I like you."  
  
"Oh really?" Lucius tossed the quaffle off to Snape, and smiled charmingly at Lily.  
  
For an instance, Lily was revolted.  
  
But in the next instance, she was smiling shyly back. With one last smile over her shoulder, she dove off after Snape.   
  
Lucius's smile turned into a sneer. James, circling above, saw it and glared at Lucius. That lasted until Lily stole the quaffle from Snape and scored. James promptly proceeded to switch his glare from Lucius to Lily.  
  
Watching, Lucius smiled.  
  
"THE SCORE IS TIED!" Jeff sounded positively ecstatic. "Who would have thought, after that humilating start...anyhow, score is thirty to thirty, ... IS THAT THE SNITCH? GO, CHANG-" his voice became muffled once more, and poor little Proffessor Flitwick could be heard screaming things like 'unbiased' into the amplifier. Meanwhile, Jason Flint, in pursuit of the Snitch, ran headlong Lily, and Crabbe, not finding a bludger anywhere, ran poor Will Chang over. The snitch dissappeared once more.  
  
"And the...game...continues." Jeff shuddered, not considering it at all to be a game.  
  
Lily looked up through disheveled hair at Flint, who was glaring nastily at her. "Watch where you're going, Evans."  
  
Lily glared right back, not at all in the mood to deal with him. "Flint, maybe if you could, I don't know, play Quidditch, that wouldn't have happened.   
  
Flint's face darkened. "Are you sayin I can't play Quidditch?" His voice had become low and dangerous. Unnoticed by either of them, Crabbe, in 'helping' Will onto his broom, had succeeded in knocking him off, Jesse took advantage of the confusion to score, James kept pouting, and Malfoy came up behind them.  
  
"Well, right now it seems Evans, Flint, and Malfoy are discussing something of upmost importance in the middle of the feild." Jeff's voice held a sarcasti edge. "Anterhyst gets the quaffle by the Slytherin keeper, at least someone is doing something, cause Potter certainly isn't...HEY! GET YOUR FILTHY SLTHERIN PAWS OFF CHANG, YOU LOW LIFE..." A glare from Flitwick stopped him. "Moving on, Will is now on the ground, McGonagall performed a cushioning spell, so hopefully he isn't hurt...but now Lockhart, in his first actually move of the game, has flown down to help...oh, poor Will, if he wasn't hurt before he will be now-" Squeaky, high pitched yelling interfered with Jeff's voice for a moment.  
  
"Alright, Proffessor, I'll stop." Jeff sounded tired and defeated. "Well, Will's standing up, that's always good...oh, no, Lockhart did something and Will's back on the ground...see, Proffessor, I told you. Back up to the feild. Malfoy, Evans, and Flint are still having a nice chat...oh...maybe it's not so nice..."  
  
Neither Flint nor Lily had noticed Lucius come up behind them. Flint had turned a seething red, and was pushing his fists together with clear intention. Due to his bulky weight, he couldn't do anything very fast, and Lily ducked just as his punch flew over her head.  
  
And right into Lucius.  
  
"Ha. Hehehe. Yah, Flint." Chortling could be heard through the amplifier. "Well, in this new type of Quidditch game, the Slytherin seeker just punched his captain. I wonder what they were talking about. Malfoy looks furious, serves you right, too, you big, ugly-  
  
"WEASLY!" Flitwicks voice, magically amplified, sounded for once loud and dangerous.  
  
"Fine!" Jeff didn't sound happy. "Well, the game has pretty much stopped, Chang and Gildroy are still on the ground, Potter is still doing nothing, oh, look, now Malfoy and Flint are fighting." His tone didn't change from a bored drawl. "Let's see, Evans is trying to break them up...Lily, you are disgrace to Gryffindor's everywhere, not letting two Slytherins pund the pulp out of eachother... Crabbe and Goyle, having nothing better to do, have decided to see who can his Anterhyst's head with a bludger first...oh, Black doesn't like this at all...he's decided to pound Crabbe's head in with his club...hey, Arthur, remember that muggle hockey game we saw? Isn't this how they play?"  
  
"Lucius, stop!" Lily's voice resounded over the fighting. Several faces turned towards her, and Lily lowered her voice to whisper furiously at Lucius. "Look, he didn't mean to punch you, and quite frankly, he looks like he's going to kill you."  
  
Lucius turned to her and smiled slightly. "Worried?" His eyes held slight mocking.  
  
Unwillingly, Lily's mouth curved into a smile. "Maybe just a tiny bit."  
  
"ARRGGGGHHHHHH!" A tall, skinny force knocked Lucius op his broom, sending them both into the air. With a small curse, McGonagall sent a red glow around both of them, letting them float gently to the ground. She probably shouldn't have. Lucius and James found that punching eachother midair was just as stress relieving as punching on the ground.  
  
"What do you think?" McGonagall asked Arthur with a tired sigh. "Should I let them fall, and hurt themselves, or let them beat eachother up, and hurt themselves?"  
  
Arthur smiled sourly. "At this point, I honestly don't think it matters."   
  
"Oh, please don't." Severus, several feet above them, scowled as he watched the two fighting. Ironically, not because they were fighting, but because they were alive to do so.  
  
Loud shouting interuppted their watch. Sirius had taken to flying circles around Crabbe and Goyle, who, in their fury to pound him, ended up punching eachother. Flint, being deprived of Lucius to fight with, decided it was time to join in.  
  
"IMPEDIMENTIA!"  
  
McGonagall's voice resounded over the stadium. For a moment, everything was silent, as the four Quidditch players, three green and one red, froze. In intresting positions, as well; Sirius was caught mid-swat at Flint's shins, Crabbe had been attempting to his Sirius, but missed and was frozen with his fist a bare inch away from Goyle's chin.  
  
And then they began to drop, like stones in water.  
  
"Oh," Proffessor McGonagall muttered, looking chagrined. "Maybe I shouldn't have done that..." She paused, and muttered a few words. Another red bubble enveloped the four students. Knowing they could do no further harm to one another, everyone turned back to Lucius and James, who were slowly being lowered to the ground. Already, the two were covered in redding gashes and bruises.  
  
"James, stop it!" Her red hair streaking behind her and her expression one that would kill, Lily looked like a messanger from hell.  
  
James paid no attention, but aimed a quick punch at Lucius's chin. Lucius pulled a hand up to block it, James grabbed his hand and used at leverage to swing around and kick him in the back.  
  
There was a sickining crack as Lucius crumpled to the ground.  
  
James stood up as the red glow dissappeared, looking nothing at all but absolutely tired. A throng of teacher's and student's surrounded them. Dumbledore looked graver than any student had ever seen him.  
  
"Lucius!" Lily broke through the crowd.  
  
James straightened slightly, and turned so he didn't have to look at Lily. Lily didn't even look up, but anyone who saw James' expression cowered back slightly as he made his way through the crowd.  
  
It looked remarkably like hate.  
  
  
I'm sorry. I know that sucked. I have a lot of repressed anger, can you tell? Well, please r/r, so i know how much it sucked and how i can possibly redeem it. 


	11. Part XI

A/N  
  
I'm so sorry it's been taking so long! I've been having writers block :(. Plus I've been having exams, and those are always so much fun. Yeah, right. Latin's tommorrow, and I actually have to sudy! What's the world coming to?So, I think this is going to be the second to last of Lily Hates James Hates Lily. So sad. So here's the (hopefully) long awaited Part XI.  
  
  
Chaos was breaking out in the Hospital Wing. Dumbledore surveyed the aftermath of a hard fought quidditch battle with a sigh. Will Chang was moaning in pain from the 'healing charm' Gildroy had used to mend his leg from where Crabbe had hit it; unfortunately, the healing charm had only half worked, leaving Will with half a leg and Gildroy with an extra one spouting off his forehead. The arrogant boy had been so disgruntled at the sight that he had feinted on the spot.  
  
Anterhyst was out cold, after an unfortunate bludger had clunked him in the head. Likewise, Crabbe and Goyle were excruciating pain after Sirius had hit them with his club. His story was that the club flew out of his hand and scraped across the Slytherins' head.  
  
Lucius Malfoy was lying on the next bed, groaning in pain as Madam Pomfrey muttered the spells that would heal his back.  
  
And Lily Evans, of all people, sat holding his hand.  
  
Dumbledore frowned when he saw this. Lily and that Slytherin? Not that Dumbledore was one to stand in the way of love on basis of house or blood, but if this was love, then he was a toad.  
  
Not suprisingly, neither James nor Sirius graced the hospital wing with their cureently rather annoyed presences, though both sustained injuries and half their team was currently residing there. It was probably for the best. Crabbe and Will were already ready exchanging dagger like glances.  
  
Madam Pomfrey finished working on Lucius and moved onto Jesse. The Slytherin smiled in his sleep and moved closer to Lily's hand causing the Gryffindor a repressed shudder. Dumbledore frowned as Lily quickly covered up any distaste towards Lucius. There were some people who were overly paranoid or cautious, but Lily wasn't one of them. Lily was the kind of person whose instincts you could trust, yet here she was, covering up her own feelings. What had changed?  
  
Lily left Lucius to go sit by Jesse and Will, avoiding, Dumbledore noticed, Gildroy. Flint came in, followed by several nasty looking Slytherin girls whom Madam Pomfrey hastened to shoo out.   
  
Lily looked up as Marcus entered the previously quiet room, now noisy by threats, yells, and the oohs and aws of Marcus's flock. She scowled in distaste, wishing her peace hadn't been disturbed. It was so easy to sit, relax, and forget...  
  
Was it really her fault if James got all paranoid? Maybe she shouldn't have talked to Snape, and maybe she had been unfair to him, but hadn't he overreacted? He had purposefully lost the game, and now she had to go to the the dance with Lucius...  
  
Lily couldn't tell how she felt about the Slytherin she'd hated for so long. When she thought about James (when he wasn't being stupid) she felt like there was a side of her she hadn't known was there, a part of her buried beneath a sarcastic and contrary personality. And he knew things about her she hadn't told anyone, and had thought no one would ever know. James was almost the opposite, with a certain charm that gave him not friends and girlfriends alike but a rather inflated ego. But then again, maybe she had just been so focused on feeling sorry for herself that she hadn't noticed there was more to him...  
  
And then there was Lucius, cold and mysterious Lucius who intrigued her. In some ways, he was like the mirror image of herself, always aloof, never revealing anything. Was her attraction to Lucius the same as James's to her?  
  
Lily shuddered again. She hoped not.  
  
  
  
James was moping. He'd gone through the anger phase, the other anger phase, and the Lily is the worst person on earth phase, and now he was on to moping.  
  
"She... she... with him! And I liked her! And she liked...him!" James's voice drifted between bewilderment and outrage. "And I thought Snape was bad? But...Malfoy! I got dumped for that scum?" James ran frustrated fingers through his hair.  
  
Sirius watched his friend with pity. "Technically, Prongs, you dumped her." 'Prongs' raised angry eyes to glare at Sirius, suggesting that perhaps this wasn't the best time to point out that. He tried a different tactic.  
  
"Look at it this way. She liked you enough to try and hurt you that much when you dumped her." Again, the glare. Sirius threw his hands up in the air, clearly restraining himself from throttling James. "Well, it could have been worse! It could have been Gildory!" Sirius shivered at the very thought.  
  
James glared at his friend. "You aren't helping. You're supposed to say, Prongs, Lily is an insane lunatic who cast a love charm on me so that I couldn't resist, and left me because somewhere in her oddly distorted mind she found affection for the scummiest, lowest, vileist..."  
  
"Prongs, you're being an arse."  
  
Back to the glaring.  
  
"If you like her so much, why did you dump her in the first place?" Sirius was clearly running out of ideas.  
  
James scowled. "It isn't about her." He emphasized the last word with a sneer. "It's about... she's supposed to be devasted. I dumped her! And she was supposed to come back begging for forgiveness. But no. She turns around, picks the next rat she sees, and makes me look like a total idiot."  
  
Sirius's eyes narrowed. "James, you know I'm you're friend, right?"  
  
James was facing away from Sirius, and didn't see the anger contorting his friends face. "Yeah," he said despondently.  
  
"So you know what I'm about to tell you is coming from a concerned friend, right?" A sullen nod. "Considering the way you're acting right now, Lucius was a step up for Lily, and you know how much I despise Lucuis." His eyes glinted dangerously, and James paled slightly. "So you are going to stop acting like a sullen baby, get off you're arse, and go tell Lily you're sorry. Okay?" James could only nod. "Good." Sirius turned and stormed out of the room, leaving a relatively shaken James behind him.  
  
Karana was waiting for him at the top of the stairs. "Do you think it will work?" Her eyes pleaded him to say yes.  
  
Sirius leaned back against the wall, running his hands through his hair. "I hope so," he said impersonally, avoiding her gaze. He didn't want to tell her the truth, that he'd never seen James act like this, that he was just as worried about his friendship as he was about Lily's and James's. James could be so stubborn sometimes! Sirius wanted to scream in frustration.  
  
Karana flinched at his sudden coldness. "Well, I should go talk to Lily." There was hurt in her voice. She started to move away.  
  
"Karana, wait." Sirius sounded extremely tired.  
  
Karana turned, one eyebrow lifted. "Can we kiss and make up?" She asked impishly. Sirius grinned and pulled her closer to him.  
  
"I don't see why not."   
  
  
  
Sirius's sudden outburst had left James shocked, but there was a nagging voice somewhere in the back of his head that was screaming Arse! Arse! And whether or not he admitted it out loud, James knew what his friend said was true. He had been acting like a jerk, and he knew why. He'd never, ever liked anyone as much as Lily, and he didn't want to lose her.  
  
He hated apologizing! It was so...not him. James Potter was never wrong, right?  
  
But he knew he was, and he knew he had to go talk to her.  
  
And unfortuanately, he knew exactly where she'd be. James set off to the hospital wing, all the while wondering what he was going to tell her. He'd always been one of those people that could charm a mouse near a cat, if need be, andyet he felt like he couldn't do that with her.  
  
Sure enough, a head of bright red hair was standing by the door into the hospital wing. James frowned. Why was she just standing there? And then he saw...  
  
Lily Evans, kissing Lucius Malfoy. Trying to see how long they could go without air, apparently. The very sight of Lucius moving his nasty pale hands around Lily made James want to....  
  
"Why, Potter." Lucius sneered, pulling away from Lily to look over her shoulder. Lily spun around, face as red as her hair.  
  
"J-J-James?" She began, but Lucius cut her off.  
  
"I see you've met my date for the dance tonight." Lucius smiled evilly. "I must say, from what Snape told me, you've greatly improved her kissing ability. My thanks."  
  
"James-" this time it was James himself who cut her off.  
  
"Well, I guess I misjudged you, Lily." James's glare was coldand penetrating. "As for you, Lucius, pounding the crap out of you was really lots of fun. I guess that's all there is to say." Outwardly, James was the very model of calm as he turned around slowly to leave. Inside, he brain was moving too fast for him to hear his own thoughts.  
  
Lily watched him go, wondering what on earth she had done. Behind her, Lucius chuckled slightly and pulled her back to back to him. Lily moved away with a look of repulsion. Lucius sneered and yanked her up against him, kissing her long and hard before letting her go.  
  
"Remember, Evans, a bet's a bet." His face, so close to hers, now repelled Lily, but she moved closer so she could whisper in his ear, and, more importantly, move her leg in between his. With a sudden motion, she brought her knee up. Malfoy would testifiy that it was a very hard knee, especially since he doubled over in pain.  
  
"And, Malfoy, a testicle's a testicle." Lily smiled sourly and, after a 'small' shove, left him.  
  
  
  
Three corridors later, James's mind was finally slowing down into simple thoughts. Kill Lily. Torture Lucius. Death to Snape and Sirius. Kiss somebody.  
  
He wasn't enitrely sure where that last thought came from, but it made sense when he thought about it. Lily got to kiss someone, so why shouldn't he? That's exactly what he should do, James decided reasonably.  
  
So he kissed the first girl he saw. Long and hard. He hadn't taken the time to see who it was. Except that she had long, black hair. Come to think of it, Lily's friend Karana had long black hair. Perfect.  
  
He pulled away from her, smiling superiorly. Karana flinched sheepishly.  
  
"Um...James?" James grinned, waiting for the astonishment, the praise, the happiness to come pouring out.  
  
"I guess Sirius didn't tell you we're going out." Karana smiled slowly, realizing that that was the first time she got to say those words. It felt good.  
  
James banged his head into the wall. 


	12. Part XII

A/N I am so so so sorry I haven't written in so long. I honestly don't know what happened, I just couldn't figure out how to end it than I left it for so long I felt bad about starting again now. But thank you so much for keeping me on your Author Alerts, and for reviewing, and I finally finished it! I'm very excited. There's a bit more Karana and Sirius than usual, but don't worry, there's plenty of James and Lily. Oh, and on a side note, some of Mandy Moore's lyrics were brought back about thirty years in time because Sirius felt he needed to sing them. I'm sorry, it really was his idea!  
  
  
Lily Hates James Hates Lily  
Part XII  
  
  
I think you're already gone.  
I think I'm finally scared now  
You think I'm weak - But I think you're wrong  
I think you're already leaving  
Feels like your hand is on the door  
I thought this place was an empire  
But now I'm relaxed - I can't be sure  
  
I think you're so mean - I think we should try  
I think I could need - this in my life  
I think I'm just scared - I think too much  
I know this is wrong it's a problem I'm dealing  
  
If you're gone - maybe it's time to go home  
There's an awful lot of breathing room  
But I can hardly move  
If you're gone - baby you need to come home  
Cuz there's a little bit of something me  
In everything in you  
  
-Matchbox Twenty, "If You're Gone"  
  
  
When some people go through messy and emotional break ups, it takes them months to go through the five stages of grieving. But James had a much faster mind than most, so he felt he'd flown through the first four stages in under an hour, sitting by himself on the now empty quidditch field. He'd already had his denial, by pretending Lily wouldn't do anything dumb (like kiss Lucius). Then he'd come out here, and pounded on the ground for a while. That had been very stress relieving. He skipped over consumption, because there was nothing to consume out there but air. Well, he did take several deep breaths. He shed three tears, one for losing Lily, one for believing he could love her, and one for his miserable Quidditch game earlier. And he thought maybe, just maybe, he had finally reached acceptance.  
  
Lily and him…they just weren't meant to be. He'd dated some pretty dumb girls before, but he'd never dated anyone dumb enough to kiss Malfoy. Or Snape, for that matter, but Malfoy was somehow ten times worse. Snape was capable, as impossible as it had first seemed, for caring about someone. Much as James hated to admit it, Snape did truly seem to care about Lily. But Malfoy… Malfoy didn't care about anyone but himself. He was using Lily to get back at James.  
  
That was when cold realization hit him.   
  
Just like Lily used Malfoy to get back at him.  
  
James clenched his teeth in anger. They were perfect for eachother, he realized. And they seemed to be happy with eachother, so who was he to interfere?  
  
Having reached the fifth stage of grieving in a twisted sort of acceptance, James scanned the silent Quidditch field. Memories of the horrible Quidditch game came back to him, Jeff's amplified mockery still ringing in his ears.  
  
"And I was trying to work at it, too," he said bitterly, deciding that Lily Evans had taken that away from him and conviently forgetting that it was because of her he choose to work in the first place. "I can't believe I let her take that away from me."  
  
"Take what?" Lily's voice was shaking, contrite, even scared. But the frigid air outside had frozen James to all this.  
  
"Quidditch," he said coldly, calmly brushing off the frozen remnants of his tears. He had nothing to hide from her anymore. He stood up, and faced her. "What else?"   
  
His ease cut Lily deeper than any tears, any yelling, any sarcastic remarks every could have. "I…I don't know," she whispered. She shivered, because James's normally warm eyes held the coldness of a frozen ocean.  
  
"Well, then." James took another step towards her, so that they were only inches apart. Lily inhaled deeply, holding in the winter air so hard she nearly turned blue. For a moment she thought he was going to kiss her.  
  
And he did, just as she let out a warm sigh that created a thin white cloud in the silent air.  
  
But it was only a cold brush against the cheek. And a whisper.  
  
"Goodbye, Lily." There was no regret, no sorrow in his voice. Just a mechanically, dull sort of tone, as though someone else was speaking through James's mouth, like James had just disappeared.  
  
"James…" Lily started, grabbing his retreating hand, trying to keep him there with here, to pull him back. Without even looking back, James slid his hand out of hers and let it fall limply back. Lily lowered herself slowly into a crouch, huddling over her knees. "No…no." Her voice erupted into sobs. But James was already too far away to hear.  
  
  
  
Two figures watched silently from the Gryffindor tower, their hands resting folded together on the ledge.  
  
"Sirius, we have to do something!" Karana's eyes were overly bright, her voice was almost pleading.   
  
"Maybe we shouldn't." Sirius's voice was distant, and his eyes were dark.  
  
"What do you mean?" Karana's brow furrowed into a frown that any other time Sirius would have found adorable. "They're meant to be together, they just can't see it."  
  
"Maybe their seeing perfectly clear for the first time in days," Sirius said, his tone turning harsher. "Until we started interfering…I mean, would they have ever gotten together if it hadn't been for us?" He moved his glare away from the field outside for the first time.   
  
"Sirius…what are you talking about?" Karana was shaking now, both in anger and confusion. "Of course they would be together! Can you honestly say they don't make each other better people?"  
  
"Oh, can I honestly say?" Sirius was angry now. "Hmm, let's see, James just blew a Quidditch match, and, of yeah, LILY KISSED MALFOY! Is that enough for you? I talked my best friend in to dating some little slut who not only snuck around his back with Snape, but then immediately left him for Lucius!" Sirius sounded almost disbelieving that he could ever have been that stupid.  
  
Karana felt her blood boil at this attack on her best friend. "That SLUT is my friend. And your friend just kissed me not an hour ago, trying to get back at Lily!"  
  
Sirius's eyes turned cold, and if anyone could have compared him to James at that moment they would have said they were brothers. "Well, we both made that mistake, didn't we?" Karana gasped as she caught his meaning. Sirius sauntered out of the room as Karana threw a pillow at his retreating figure. Instead of hitting Sirius, however, it bounced harmlessly off the golden locks of Gildroy.  
  
"Karana!" He exclaimed, looking delighted and not all noticing her daggar casting glare. "Just the person I was looking for!" He smiled broadly. "How would you like to go to the dance with me? I know, I know, you're shocked that someone so supremely handsome and talented could ever like little old you, but I am entirely sincere, I promise! You'll be the envy of-"  
  
Whoever Karana would be the envy of, she never found out (though she doubted very much she'd be the envy of anyone) because at that moment she used the bouncing charm Flitwick had taught them and sent her socks bouncing right into the arrogant boy's mouth.  
  
"Leave," she yelled, face flushed red. Gildroy looked as though he were about to protest, but one look at Karana's face and he turned to go. Karana magicked the door shut behind him before flopping onto her bed.  
  
Why did Lily have to go kiss Lucius and mess things up for her best friend? Karana had even told her not to go talk to Snape, and that was what had started this whole damn thing. It was so frustrating! Karana had defended Lily to Sirius, of course, it was her duty as best friend. But even though she felt he had no right to say so, Karana secretly thought her boyfriend – ex-boyfriend, she reminded herself – was right.  
  
It wasn't going to be a good night.  
  
  
Sirius, sitting down in the common room, was far angrier at himself than at James. At least for the moment. Then he remembered how James had just sat there at the Quidditch game, doing nothing, while the rest of the team (excluding Lily) worked their arse's off. And how James probably would still be in shock that any girl had dumped him. And that if James hadn't spied on Lily, they would still be together and Sirius would probably be off kissing Karana somewhere without a care in the world.  
  
Really, everything was James's fault.  
  
Sirius couldn't think of a single person he liked just then. James arrived at the common room several moments later to find Sirius not speaking to him, Karana not speaking to him or Sirius, and the whole of Gryffindor not speaking to him because of his pathetic attempt at a game earlier. Jeff Weasly even sarcastically congradulated him on pulling the worst game he'd ever announced.  
  
James decided it was time to bury himself in school work, forgetting or ignoring the fact that the dance that was later that night. Lily entered the room later and received much the same treatment. She placed herself in the corner of the room that was furthest away from James, Sirius, and Karana (she had done quite well in Muggle Trigonometry and managed to find the correct corner), and promptly began to rewrite her essay on Egyptian Mummies for Proffessor Binns in the hopes that she could get him to forgive her. She couldn't believe she'd actually said that in front of the class. James must have bewitched her.  
  
The sky gradually darkened, and girls gradually filtered upstairs to get changed, followed much later by the boys. Karana glanced at Sirius, to see if he was going to apologize, then stomped upstairs. What did it matter if Sirius was going to the dance or not? Karana would have fun with other people. Sirius didn't watch her leave, but moments later he was climbing up the boys stairway to get ready himself.  
  
This left James and Lily alone together, though both were determined not to notice. They each silently willed the other to leave to no avail. Finally James asked, quite politely for clenched teeth,  
  
"Essay going well?" He didn't even look up.  
  
Lily didn't even ask how he knew. "Fine, thanks." She tossed her hair from one side to the other. "Studying for a change?"  
  
"Yes, but don't worry, no one could beat you in the studying department." They were cut off from arguing further by the stunted arrival of the dancegoers and their dates, and then their even slower departure. Lily and James were now sitting in opposite corners, and even they couldn't find a good way to argue with an entire household between them. And even after the household left, neither could find anything good to argue about for several hours after that.  
  
  
  
The dance was more subdued than usual, because both Slytherin and Gryffindor had had a humiliating day. The Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs, instead of rejoicing, were furious at both teams for being a disgrace to House Quidditch, but even more so to Gryffindor because that sort of thing was right up Slytherin's alley, not anyone elses. The band stank royally, and they threatened to quit when they found the lack of applause and dancing they were getting. Couples generally found darker corners of the room to do things they couldn't have done in lighter areas of the Great Hall. Students without dates simply looked around them with dull hope.   
  
Sirius Black was having one of the worst nights of his life. He was furious at himself for yelling at Karana, and he desperately wanted to go apologize, but everytime he looked over at her she was pointedly ignoring her and he soon gave up any hope of talking to her. With any other girl he could have just turned on the famous Sirius charm and smoothed things over easily, but he couldn't just do that with Karana. He need to do y.something more special.  
  
Oddly enough, it was Gildroy that gave him the idea.  
  
The band had taken a break well over a half an hour ago, and it looked as though they weren't coming back. Gildroy, though dateless, wasn't beaten to the curb yet and just could resist the opportunity to show himself off some more. So he strutted up to the stage, grabbed the microphone, and promptly began to sing "You ain't nothing but a hound dog." He couldn't understand why his audience first fell to sneering, then yells to get off the stage, then finally lightened into laughter. But everyone seemed quite happy, so Gildroy just kept singing (though Professor McGonagall was under physical restraint by Professor Flitwick to keep her from kicking Gildroy off the stage and "getting rid of that awful howling sound" in her words).  
  
"Gildroy, you genius!" Sirius exclaimed suddenly, rushing towards the stage. Despite how far away they were from each other, there wasn't a chance of Gildroy missing even the slightest bit of praise.  
  
"Well of course I am!" he said indignatly as Sirius came up to the stage, panting breathlessly from his sprint through the crowd. But Gildroy was clenching the microphone as though it were his life-force…or even more important, a mirror.   
  
"You know, Gildroy." Sirius had his persuasive, charming voice on full force. "Crabbe was just telling me how much he wanted to congradulat you on that amazing game today."  
  
"Oh of course!" Gildroy exclaimed without losing his smile. He handed the microphone to Sirius without a second thought and bounded of happily.  
  
"Hey everybody," Sirius said, nervous for the first time in his life. And it had nothing to do with the large audience he was addressing. "I said one or two…or several stupid things to my girlfriend earlier today, and just so she knows how much I love3 her I'm going to make a complete fool out of myself." Sirius could feel beads of sweat forming on the top of his head, but they weren't because of what he was about to do, but instead of because of what he had done.  
  
Then he began to sing.  
  
"I try." He hit notes higher than any male past the age of ten should be able to.  
  
"but I can't seem to get myself   
to think of anything ... but you.  
Your breath on my face ... your warm gentle kiss I taste,  
The truth ... I taste the truth,  
We know what I came here for,  
Cos I won't ask for more.   
  
I wanna be with you,  
If only for a night,  
To be the one who's in your arms,  
To hold you tight.  
  
I wanna be with you,  
There's nothing more to say,  
There's nothing else I want more   
than to feel this way."  
  
Karana was laughing harder than she ever remembered laughing, and at the same time her stomach was filled with strange butterflies that Sirius would go so far as to sing an alto piece just for her. Even from far away, she could see the nervousness in his eyes as he stopped singing and scanned the crowd for her.  
  
"Accio Sirius," she called aloud, her own eyes dancing mischievously as a very bewildered Sirius came flying to her. All the pairs of eyes in the room were watching them now…or almost all, a few people were still snogging in the corners.  
  
"I'm sorry, too," she told him, planting a light kiss on his cheek. "But I'm not about to go up on stage and sing Mandy Moore." She grinned up at him.  
  
Sirius feigned hurt. "Not even Britney Spears?" Karana shook her head. "Jessica Simpson? Hoku?" He gathered her in his arms, still not embarrassed by his performance though he was fairly certain he would feel the effects tomorrow. "Well, I guess I'll have to settle for this, then." And he kissed her, very, very deeply. Neither was aware of the clapping that began or even that Gildroy had started singing again with Crabbe as backup.  
  
  
  
James was pacing in front of the fireplace, a habit which infuriated Lily. Actually, at this point anything he did would have infuriated her. Finally she said,  
  
"Why don't you just go upstairs already? I mean, why are you here?" Her face was set in a determined glare, but her eyes didn't quite have the strength of will.  
  
"Fine, then." James hadn't even turned to go before he spun back around…and then around again, because he realized he'd turned back the wrong way. "Wait, why should I leave? I got here first!"  
  
Under different circumstances Lily would have laughed that they were behaving so childishly. But right now it seemed very important that she get out James's company. "Well, fine!" She gathered up her ridiculously long essay and began to stomp out of the room, called back momentarily by James's voice.  
  
"Lily…wait…" James said weakly, then changed his mind. "Wait, why should I ask you to wait? Shouldn't you be apologizing to me? You cheated on me…twice!"  
  
"Yeah?" Lily's eye's were blazing now. "Well you dumped me…twice! And we weren't even going out the second the second time!"  
  
"Fine then!"  
  
"Fine!" Lily only took two steps up the stairs before she stopped and stood there for several moments. James moved back to his pacing, determined not to look at her but completely aware that she was still there.  
  
"You know why I was talking to Severus?" Lily addressed the stairway softly, but James heard.  
  
"What?" he asked bitterly, though he knew perfectly well what.  
  
Lily turned very slowly, and James looked at her now. She looked like an angel, her red hair silhouetted by the flickering candles that lit the darkness of the lonely stairs. "I said," she said, equally slowly, as though she were talking to a small child. "Do you want to know why I went to talk to Severus?"  
  
James turned away and swallowed hard, determined not to let her see his face. Lily thought she saw his shoulders quiver slightly, but that could have been the firelight dancing across his back. His dark hair was turned almost red by the flames, and it was tousled in a very cute way. Lily suddenly decided it was very important to be close to him, and she took a step down the stairs.  
  
"Sure," he said as sarcastically as he could.  
  
"It was because I was scared." She took another step down the stairs and one more into the common room. "Because I really, really liked you and couldn't figure out why you liked me." Another step. "And I wanted someone tell me this was wrong so I would have to find out the hard way whether it was right or not." Another step. "And hey, who better to do that than Snape?" She asked dryly. She was several feet away from him now. "And you know what I realized when I was talking to him?" James turned the barest possible degree towards her. "That I didn't give a piece of shit about what he thought about you. That I liked you… loved you even… and he couldn't change that. You could," she added on afterthought, "but he couldn't." Somehow James was facing her now, though they were still far enough apart that she could look him straight in the eye without titling her head up too much.  
  
"So there you have it." Her voice matched his for bitterness, but hurt crept through too. "Now you can't say I haven't told you anything, though you still assume I was cheating on him." She turned to go, but all of a sudden he was there, gripping her shoulder tightly.  
  
They stood there for a long time, searching eachother's faces for signs of repentance and anger, sorrow and coldness. But they couldn't find it there. There was something between them now, something they couldn't get rid no matter how hard they tried. If they couldn't find a way to love eachother, the only alternative was to hate eachother. And neither was ready to do that.  
  
"I'm sorry," James muttered slowly, but he lifted his gaze up and looked Lily full in the eyes. For the first time she saw the black eye the Lucius had given him…over me, she thought dejectedly. Why can't I do anything right?  
  
"Me, too," she told him, her green eyes sincere. "Not least of all about that," she said dryly, touching his eye gently. He winced at her touch and she withdrew hastily as though she had done something wrong, but James pushed it up to his face once more.  
  
"Do you think we can actually be together?" Lily asked desperately. "I mean…" her voice trailed off as she hesitated, "…I love you." She rushed on before James could interrupt. "But look how much fighting we've done in a single week?"  
  
"We've been arguing for the past four years," James pointed out, his smile starting to come back. "So it looks as though we're going to argue no matter what we do." His smile grew shakily. Surely that was logic even Lily Evans couldn't argue with.  
  
"Yes but…" Lily looked slightly crestfallen. "It didn't used to hurt so much," she whispered, staring at his shoes as she felt her cheeks burn. Her hand dropped from his face.  
  
James studied the top of her head for several moments, wondering what to say. He remembered that day so long ago where Lily had spit back at him, "I'd have to care first," and realized in all that had happened since them both of them had learned to care…about eachother.   
  
"Lily, look at me." He cupped her chin gently with his hand and lifted it up. "If we can't be with eachother, who can we be with? We fight only because we mean so much to eachother." Which, he realized, was true. Hadn't Sirius tried telling him that once? "But I promise to try harder."  
  
Lily gave a shaky grin – he saw suddenly that there were tears in her eyes, and couldn't tell whether she was crying from sorrow or joy. She followed his gaze.  
  
"Both," she told him, her smile growing a bit to reveal teeth. Then he couldn't see her teeth anymore, because she was kissing him, and he was kissing her back.  
  
James pulled away first. "Truce?" His blue eyes danced as he looked down on her.  
  
Lily considered. "For now," she told him, her face as serious as she could make it. "But I was considering hooking up with Sirius next week, and then you'd have to break up with me again…don't look at me like that! You kissed my best friend!" Lily tried to duck out of James's embrace as he got a mischievious glint in his eye, but she wasn't quite fast enough.  
  
"And then we'd have to through this all over again." James gave a dramatic sigh. Lily's arms moved back around him. "It's a tough job, but somebody's got to do it." He looked her straight in the eye. "Lily Evans, I think I may have fallen in love with you."  
  
"Think? James, really, don't you think you're overexerting yourself?" Lily teased him.   
  
"Are you saying you don't love me back?" James's question was light, but serious at the same time.  
  
"Numbskull." Lily rolled her eyes. "Of course I love you."  
  
And they kissed.  
  
  
  
  
A/N Wow. It's finally over. I'm sorry if that really sucked, it's about 1:30 in the morning right now and I'm not sure what state of mind I'm in. But it's pretty long, I think. Anyhow, r/r, and I love you all very very much, and I'd thank everyone individually but it's way too late at night for that. Thanks again!!!!!! J  
  
-Tigresslily  



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